ATLANTA — Imagine, for a moment, being 18 years old again. Legally an adult but still a teenager and finding your footing in the world, vacillating between feeling invincible and feeling minuscule. You might even still be wearing braces.
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Now imagine that when you step onto the soccer field, your shoulders carry the weight of a country’s hopes.
Lamine Yamal, Spain’s teenage soccer supernova, doesn’t blink at that pressure. He is the biggest star on the Spanish team, the player the country turns to when it needs a moment of brilliance, and he wears it with a combination of confidence and joy.
Yamal was in the starting 11 for Spain’s World Cup group-stage match against Saudi Arabia on Sunday, a 4-0 win that Yamal kick-started with a goal in the 10th minute.
He made his senior international debut for Spain in 2023, at 16, and is the first player in soccer history to start at both the World Cup and the UEFA European Championship before his 19th birthday.
Still working his way back to 90-minute fitness after a hamstring injury in April, Yamal played just 20 minutes in Spain’s 0-0 draw with Cape Verde on Monday. In Sunday’s match, each time Yamal touched the ball, the crowd drew in a breath of anticipation. His prodigious left foot often seemed magnetized to the ball, even as he cut between defenders, changed direction and searched for ways to create Spain’s first goal of the tournament.
It didn’t take long.
After 10 minutes of Yamal directing Spain’s attack with the ball at his feet on the right wing, Spain moved the ball to the left side of the field and left Yamal to find an open channel. As Mikel Oyarzabal — who went on to score two goals of his own — received the ball on the left side of the box, he crossed it to an unmarked Yamal, who was sprinting forward and needed just a simple touch to convert his first goal.
“Scoring in the World Cup, it’s an incredibly special feeling,” Yamal told Spanish television. “I’ve always dreamed of being at the World Cup, and to be able to score in my first match as a starter is a dream come true.”
Yamal added that four years ago, for the last World Cup, he was watching matches from his classroom at La Masia, the famed Barcelona player development academy. Raised in the working-class neighborhood of Rocafonda in the town of Mataró, about 20 miles north of Barcelona, Yamal entered La Masia at seven and quickly began a meteoric rise.
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In 2023, Yamal made his debut for Barcelona at 15 and became the youngest player in the history of the storied Spanish club. He scored his first goal just a few months later, at 16 years 87 days old, to become the youngest goal scorer for Barcelona — beating out Lionel Messi, who scored his first goal for Barcelona at 17 years 10 months.
Yamal finished second in Ballon d’Or voting last year, coming up just short of being named the best player in the world.
“When there are players with individual attributes in this game, that can work one-on-one, they can make a difference,” Saudi Arabia Coach Georgios Donis said. “This is a player that makes a difference all the time in Spain.”
Spain jerseys outnumber all others on the streets of Atlanta, and Yamal’s No. 19 is on the backs of most of them. Yamal was given the coveted No. 10, historically worn by a team’s most special player, at Barcelona last summer — but he’s too young and too new in the national team to get to wear it internationally, despite his stardom.
But the No. 19 will perhaps have an extra significance this year for Yamal. He turns 19 on July 13, one day before the World Cup semifinals begin, and the final is July 19. Spain was one of the favorites to win this year’s tournament, and with Yamal returning to full form, his country’s hopes remain high.
Though he played only 45 minutes Sunday, Yamal’s impact was undeniable in turning Spain’s fortunes after a dismal first result against Cape Verde.
“He would have played more in a different scenario,” Spain Coach Luis De la Fuente said. “We had control of the game and we want him to be fit for the next game — potentially for the entire match. It was important for him to feel confident. He is in perfect condition.”
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