Lamine Yamal Ready for Spain’s World Cup Opener Against Cape Verde
Spain will walk into their World Cup opener on Monday with their brightest young star available and ready. Lamine Yamal, the teenager who missed the end of Barcelona’s 2025-26 campaign with a hamstring injury, has been declared in “perfect condition” to face Cape Verde.
For Luis de la Fuente, it is the piece of news he wanted most before a ball is kicked.
“The good news is that Lamine is in perfect condition,” the Spain head coach told reporters on the eve of the game. “He's arrived at this point in the state in which we wanted him to be. He's fine, just like Nico [Williams] and Victor [Munoz]. They're all available, although some won't play the entire game.”
Yamal will not be thrown straight into a full 90 minutes. The plan is controlled risk, not recklessness.
“The doctors say Lamine can play tomorrow without any issues. Not to play 90 minutes, but to play some minutes, yes. The process [with Williams] is similar,” De la Fuente explained.
The sight of both Yamal and Nico Williams in the matchday squad transforms the mood around Spain’s attack. Two years on from lifting the European Championship in Germany, La Roja arrive as reigning European champions and, according to Opta’s supercomputer, outright favourites to win the World Cup.
That label carries weight. So does the history they are chasing. Spain are aiming to become only the fourth nation ever to hold the European Championship and World Cup titles at the same time.
Yet the numbers also tell a harsher story.
Since that golden night in Johannesburg in 2010, Spain’s World Cup record has steadily frayed: a group-stage exit in 2014, then back-to-back last-16 eliminations on penalties. Across their last 14 World Cup appearances, 2010 remains the only time they have reached the semi-finals. More recently, they have managed just one win in their last six matches at the tournament (four draws, one defeat) – a 7-0 demolition of Costa Rica in the 2022 group stage that proved more outburst than trend.
This campaign, De la Fuente wants something sturdier than flashes. The presence of his young wingers offers exactly that: unpredictability, pace, and the ability to rip open deep defences that have so often stalled Spain’s possession game.
“They've been working together a lot of days, a lot of hours, and with the relationship they have, they've been happy,” the coach said of Yamal and Williams. “They could play, if we think the game demands it.”
While the focus sits squarely on Spain’s front line, the national team boss also found himself fielding questions about a potential transfer that could reshape the left side of his defence at club level. Reports suggest Marc Cucurella is close to swapping Chelsea for Real Madrid, a move that would drop him into the most pressurised environment in Spanish football.
De la Fuente brushed aside any concern that such speculation might distract his defender, and instead launched a firm endorsement.
“If it's good news for Cucu, or someone else, we'll celebrate it,” he said. “I don't talk about clubs, but if you ask me about Cucurella for the national team, he's convincing.
“He's been with us since he was 17. I know his performance, the quality and potential he has. He might be one of the best left-backs in the world, without doubt.”
That kind of conviction runs through this Spain squad. There is youth, there is form, there is depth, and there is the memory of a European title that still feels fresh. What they lack is a modern World Cup run to match their reputation.
Cape Verde on Monday is only a first step, but it comes with a jolt of electricity: Yamal fit, Williams ready, and a nation expecting something far closer to 2010 than the disappointments that followed.
