Let’s do it by the numbers, shall we? For the first time in four World Cups, Spain won their first game. Dani Olmo scored his 100th goal in the tournament’s history and 18-year-old Gavi, one of two teenagers in the starting line-up, was its youngest goalscorer.
They were only two of the six different scorers, Spain reached that magical figure that the vidiprinter explains to avoid confusion and express wonder.
They took 16 shots, didn’t allow a single in return and scored seven hits. No wonder Carlos Soler celebrated the sixth in the 90th minute with a point and a wink that said: ‘we’re here’. Boy, they are.
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There was still time for Alvaro Morata to add two minutes later, Spain’s number 7 getting Spain’s seventh. Raphael’s Mi Gran Noche, a gay icon at home, revved up the place. It had been a great night, that is to say, Luis Enrique left laughing, having presented his team with his candidacy. Spain played over a thousand passes, and if the old question used to be “yes, but how many did it matter?”, the new answer looks like it might be: all of them. Useless? Not a bit It’s hard to remember a performance as complete as this one.
“We were excellent in all aspects of the game and I like that we dominated from the first whistle,” said Luis Enrique. “It was very special; everything went fine.”
From Costa Rica’s point of view, it might be equally hard to remember one as calamitous, a ruthless old side torn apart by children. Luis Fernando Suarez’s team started badly, never got better and could get worse. “Psychologically I’m very worried that we won’t be able to recover from this,” he said.
Until the end, Spain cut them, leaving scars, a cruel thing.
Suárez had anticipated that Spain would have more possession, but not like that. In the end, they just wanted it to stop, but Spain refused. Sometimes intent is everything, and hers was vicious.
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The first of the seven came after just 11 minutes, and it could have already been the third. Dani Olmo and Marco Asensio had clear-cut chances before Gavi’s deflected pass saw Olmo make a fine reverse, controlling and turning to beat Keylor Navas. At the time, FIFA statistics, which now allow for times when neither team had the ball, said Spain had had 79% of possession – 10% contested – but those were competitions that the national team won invariably, an intensity for its excellence. Gavi, as usual, led the press.
He and Pedri – the smooth glider who turned 20 on Friday – dominated the meeting. But then it was all done by the Spanish side, a collective effort that was very convincing. The ball kept touching the boot of Sergio Busquets, exactly where he wanted, he didn’t need to stay there any longer.
The wide positions, occupied by Olmo and Ferran Torres, were very wide, the pitch too big for Costa Rica to ever get there in time. Asensio was the false 9, mobile and always available.
And perhaps Rodri, the Manchester City midfielder who worked as a central player but in those parts of the pitch usually occupied by the pivot, could be described as a false 4. “The central players will touch the ball more than 100 times,” said Luis Enrique’s assistant Fernando Torres. Rodri had 91 at halftime alone.
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Spain, meanwhile, had three goals. Another long period of possession culminated in Jordi Alba, who again flew down the left, with his legs spinning. He found Asensio, who overturned the shot: 2-0 after 20 minutes, the rhythm was set. Navas could have done better, but he wasn’t the only one – this was so one-sided it was absurd.
All in white, ghosts, the Costa Rican players were not in the match or in the match reports, nothing to say about them. They were just there as victims. Or, it turned out, the authors. Like the moment Carlos Martínez was tricked by Alba. Or the next minute when Celso Borges caught Alba in his penalty area.
Even the subsequent penalty spoke of superiority, of total control over everything, especially the weather. Ferran Torres took a break and got the ball rolling: 3-0 after just over half an hour.
At half-time, Spain had 85% of the possession in the old measure. The surprise was that Costa Rica could claim 15%. The numbers were piling up quickly, the goals soon in four.
This time, perhaps, there was an answer to the inevitable question that asks whether a wild card result is based on one team being really, really good or their opponents being bad. This time Costa Rica could be directly blamed, Francisco Calvo kneeling in front of Ferran Torres, Bryan Oviedo also could not do anything, an irreparable mess that allows the former Manchester City player to score.
Spain made changes, Busquets and Alba switched off and protected, Ferran Torres left amid applause. Nico Williams replaced Asensio and flew at his opponents. Soler also came. Morata came on and immediately hit the side netting. The hunger remained – or even increased – the new men, boys, eager to be part of it.
An extraordinary 50-yard run from the 20-year-old Williams led to Morata clipping in a cross from which Gavi hit a superb volley with the outside of his boot. Spain had five, and they weren’t done yet, going on to complete the biggest World Cup win in their history, taking their big night tally to seven.