Spain coast to Costa Rica victory
COSTA RICA 0
SPAIN recorded their biggest-ever World Cup win as a 7-0 thrashing of Costa Rica underlined their credentials as tournament contenders in Qatar.
The contest was over within 31 minutes as Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres, from the penalty spot, rewarded one-touch passing and movement that Costa Rica could not live with.
Torres grabbed his second before Gavi – who became Spain’s youngest-ever goalscorer in June – and substitutes Carlos Soler and Alvaro Morato completed the rout.
Spain’s victory eclipsed their previous biggest World Cup win, a 6-1 defeat of Bulgaria in France 24 years ago.
La Roja have struggled on the World Cup stage since lifting the trophy in 2010 – exiting at the group stage in 2014 and being knocked out at the last 16 four years later.
But the nature of this victory will raise expectations that Spain can go deep in the competition and challenge for the main prize again.
Costa Rica were the last team to qualify for the World Cup by beating New Zealand in an intercontinental play-off in June.
But the Central Americans were out of their depth and did not manage a single goal attempt.