Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal made an embarrassing record in the World Cup. He did not touch the ball for the first 30 minutes of the match against Cape Verde, which happened for the first time since 1966. Despite Spain’s 27 shots, the match remained a 0-0 draw.
New York: Spain’s star striker Mikel Oyarzabal has made a shameful record in his name in the World Cup, which he would never want to remember. In its first group match of the World Cup, the Spain team could not score a goal against the weak Cape Verde and the match ended in a 0-0 draw. This unwanted record was registered in the name of Oyarzabal in this match. Oyarzabal did not touch the ball even once in the first 30 minutes of the match. According to football statistics company ‘Opta’, since World Cup records started being properly recorded in 1966, this is the first time that a player has not been able to touch the ball even once despite being on the field for the first half hour of the match.
Cape Verde’s wall, Oyarzabal remains ‘missing’
In this Group H match held at the Atlanta Stadium, Spain coach Luis de la Fuente had fielded the team in a 4-3-3 formation. Real Sociedad forward Oyarzabal was given command of the attack alongside Gavi and Ferran Torres. But the Cape Verde team, playing its first World Cup match, built a wall of five defenders, which Spain could not break.
Spain had big names like Rodri, Pedri and Fabian Ruiz in their midfield, but all their passes were wasted by the Cape Verde defence. The result was that Oyarzabal was left completely alone on the field. This is a huge disappointment for a player who was in career best form last season with 15 goals and 4 assists for his club Sociedad.
Luck did not favor even after 27 shots
However, after the failure of the first half hour, Oyarzabal came back into the game and took 5 shots on goal, but none of the shots could be converted. At the end of the first half, a shot from Ferran Torres hit the post and came back. Oyarzabal fired a header from the rebound, but Cape Verde’s 40-year-old goalkeeper Vojinha made a brilliant save.
In the 88th minute of the match, young sensation Lamin Yamal, coming on as a substitute, gave a wonderful pass to Oyarzabal, but his shot was blocked with his body by Cape Verde defender Pico Lopes. The coach also fielded players like Lamin Yamal, Danny Olmo and Nico Williams in the second half, but no one could penetrate the Cape Verde defence.
Spain took a total of 27 shots in the entire match, but could not score a single goal. Cape Verde is being praised all over the world for holding a big team like Spain to a draw in its very first match. In the next match of the group, Spain will face Saudi Arabia, while Cape Verde will face Uruguay.