Ferran Torres scored twice as Spain began their FIFA World Cup 2022 campaign with a 7-0 win over Costa Rica in their opening Group E match here on Wednesday. Costa Rica’s team was unable to match 2010 champions Spain throughout the match and there was no reliable move from their side to score a goal. Even Costa Rica’s player could not hit a single shot towards the opposing team’s goal, while the Spanish team took 17 shots on goal, of which seven were converted.
Torres (31st and 54th minutes) scored twice for Spain at the Al Thumama Stadium, while Dani Olmo (11th), Marco Asensio (21st), Gavi (74th), Carlos Soler (90th) and Álvaro Morata (20th) scored. 90 plus two minutes) scored one goal each. This is Spain’s biggest win in the World Cup. The team scored seven goals for the first time in a World Cup match. Spain dominated the match from the start and most of the first half was played in Costa Rica’s half.
Spain had 85 percent of the possession of the ball in the first half, which shows the dominance of the team. Spain came close to scoring in the seventh minute but Danny Olmo failed to hit the target despite finding himself in front of the goal. Two minutes later, Asensio had a chance to open the scoring but his shot went wide of Costa Rica goalkeeper Keller Navas to the right. Olmo and Asensio, however, did not take long to rectify their mistake.
In the 11th minute of the match, Olmo passed the ball to Gavi on a move from the left flank, who passed it back to Olmo. This time, Olmo made no mistake and scored a goal by dodging Navas on a thunderous shot. It was Spain’s 100th goal in the World Cup. Spain doubled their lead after 10 minutes when Sergio Busquets headed the ball past Jordi Alba on the left. Alba passed the ball to Asensio who made no mistake this time to score.
Spain were then awarded a penalty after a foul on a Costa Rica defender and Ferran Torres converted it to put the team ahead 3–0 in the 31st minute. The goalkeeper dived to his left to save Navas Torres’ shot but the Spaniard headed the ball in from his right. Spain continued to attack after this but the team could not find any more goals before the interval.
In the final minute of injury time, Asensio came close to scoring but his left-footed shot was wide of the target. The Spanish team was leading 3-0 till the interval. The story of the first half was repeated in the second half as well. Asensio had a chance to open the scoring early on but his powerful shot went just wide of the goal. In the 54th minute of the match, Spain made a move from the right end. Gavi passed the ball to Torres, who single-handedly dodged three Costa Rica players to put his side ahead 4–0.
Gavi extended Spain’s lead to 5-0 in the 74th minute when he fired a powerful right-footed shot from Alvaro Morata that hit the post and went in. Soler scored in the 90th minute while Morata scored in the second minute of injury time to put Spain ahead 7–0 in what proved to be the final score.
