The beast awakened: Spain crushed Saudi Arabia 4-0 and is close to qualification

The 0-0 draw in their World Cup debut against Cape Verde was a wake-up call for Spain, and it seems to have had an effect. Just like in their previous match, the Europeans were vastly superior to their opponents, but this time they were much more precise, easily winning 4-0 against Saudi Arabia in Matchday 2 of Group H.

The match would start as expected: a dominant Red team determined to seek the advantage from the outset, and a retracted Arab team waiting to counterattack. In the first few minutes, the Europeans would arrive several times without danger, but they would not take long to achieve the 1-0. At 10, Álex Baena would pass it down the wing to Mikel Oyarzabal, who would later cross into the small area for Lamine Yamal to push the ball into the back of the net with a slide.

Not satisfied with the initial goal, Luis De La Fuente's team would quickly go for another, which they would achieve at 21. After a corner, Dani Olmo would shoot the ball anywhere, which would then deflect off Firas Al-Braikan and land at Aymeric Laporte's feet, who would leave it for Oyarzabal to beat his marker and score the 2-0 with a backheel.

The third goal would not take long to come either, as just 2 minutes later, Oyarzabal would score his personal double after a great collective play that completely disoriented the Asian defense. Shortly after, the Real Sociedad forward would be close to his hat-trick after a horrible clearance from goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais, but his great three-finger shot would hit the crossbar.

In the second half, Spain would not take their foot off the gas and at 48 they would reach 4-0. After a corner from Baena that would deflect in the middle, Marc Cucurella would shoot first time and, despite Al Owais's save, the ball would enter the goal due to a rebound off Hassan Al Tambakti.

If the score was not more lopsided by that point in the match, it was largely due to the goalkeeper of "The Green Falcons," who stood out with several important saves, including a dangerous one-on-one against Pedro Porro at 52.

Despite still being vastly superior, with the substitutions and the score, the Europeans would slow down and in the following minutes would start to give their rivals more possession; however, they would not take advantage of it, having only one shot on goal at 80 from Abdullah Al Hamdan, saved easily by Unai Simón.

At the end of the match, through the foot of Ferran Torres, the Spaniards would score 5-0, but this would be disallowed for a millimetric offside of the Barcelona forward before receiving, ending the match finally with a four-goal difference.

After this wide victory, Spain will seek to secure first place in Group H against Uruguay on Friday, June 26 at the AKRON Stadium in Guadalajara. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia will try to at least aim to finish as the best third against Cape Verde on the same day and time at the NRG Stadium in Houston.