50 days to go until 2026 World Cup: Spain and Yamal are ready for the global stage

Barcelona star Lamine Yamal, 18, will be key to Spain's chances (David Ramos/Getty Images) Share articleWith 50 days to go until the World Cup, European champions Spain are comfortable with being one of the favourites. Yet manager Luis de la Fuente still has some interesting selection decisions to make before finalising his squad — and picking his starting XI for the opener against Cape Verde on June 15. From the outside, all seems serene for the world’s No 2-ranked team. Is this the case? Since coming off the bench to score the goal that beat England in the final of the 2024 European Championship, Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal has made the centre-forward spot his own, with 11 goals and five assists in his past 10 Spain appearances. Joan Garcia of Barcelona has been the most in-form Spanish goalkeeper this term at club level, but De la Fuente will likely stick with long time No 1 Unai Simon between the posts, despite some wobbles with Athletic Club this term. Atletico Madrid’s Marcos Llorente has had a tremendous season, and could get the nod at right-back over Tottenham Hotspur’s Pedro Porro. Alvaro Morata went to Euro 2024 as captain, but the 33-year-old has not scored in 22 Serie A games on loan at Como from Milan this season, and has not been called up by Spain since September 2025. Around 12 months ago, Dean Huijsen looked to have already secured a World Cup starting spot with some strong performances. But shaky form at club level since joining Real Madrid last summer has led De la Fuente to look at other options, including Barca’s Pau Cubarsi. An injury-plagued season at club level has put Athletic Club’s Nico Williams’ place in the squad under threat. But Lamine Yamal has overcome his own niggling injury issues to hit excellent form with Barca in recent months. Paris Saint-Germain midfielder Fabian Ruiz missed the March internationals with a knee injury and has just got back to club action. Barca’s Pedri has also recently returned from hamstring problems and does not yet look back to 100 per cent. Manchester City’s Rodri was an automatic pick for the holding midfield role up until the Euro 2024 final, but injuries have meant the 29-year-old has rarely featured for Spain since. Arsenal’s Martin Zubimendi has filled in impressively through the Nations League and World Cup qualifying campaigns. In theory, they could feature together in the team, but De la Fuente has plenty of attacking options — including Ruiz, Pedri, Dani Olmo and Fermin Lopez — to fit in. (4-3-3) Unai Simon; Marcos Llorente, Pau Cubarsi, Aymeric Laporte, Marc Cucurella; Fabian Ruiz, Rodri, Pedri; Lamine Yamal, Mikel Oyarzabal, Nico Williams. Spain’s last two World Cups were dominated by headlines featuring then-coaches Julen Lopetegui (2018) and Luis Enrique (2022) — and controversial former FA president Luis Rubiales. Current Spanish FA chief Rafael Louzan and manager De la Fuente are much more understated figures, who try to go about their jobs with the minimum of fuss. As reigning European champions, and No 2 in the FIFA rankings behind France, Spain accept they are among the favourites, especially with Yamal already a world superstar. The 18-year-old will be one of up to 10 Barcelona players in De la Fuente’s final 26-man squad for the finals. Huijsen — if he makes the cut — might be Real Madrid’s only representative. Spain’s friendly against Egypt in March, played at Espanyol’s ground in Barcelona, was marred by offensive anti-Muslim chanting. Yamal, who is a practising Muslim, condemned the chants on social media. There have been numerous incidents of racist chanting from crowds in La Liga through recent years, but travelling fans at international tournaments have generally not caused problems. Spain were due to play Argentina in the ‘Finalissima’ in Qatar in late March. But the war between the United States, Israel and Iran led to that game being cancelled. Hastily organised friendlies brought a 3-0 win over Serbia, and a 0-0 draw with Egypt. Spain have two World Cup warm-up fixtures, against Iraq in La Coruna on June 4, and Peru in Puebla, Mexico on June 8. A nation of 10 islands off the west coast of Africa with a population under 525,000, Cape Verde will make their World Cup debut this summer. An independent country only since 1976, they were not FIFA members until 1982 and first entered World Cup qualifying for the 2002 edition. They are one of the smallest nations to ever qualify — and did so by finishing four points clear of Cameroon in their group. Although Cape Verde has played at basketball and handball World Cups, just making this tournament is seen as the country’s biggest sporting achievement ever. Coach Pedro Leitao Brito — widely known as Bubista — has spent his entire career in his home country and is now a national hero. Goalkeeper and captain Vozinha, another born in Cape Verde, is the emotional heart of the team. The Blue Sharks squad for the tournament will draw heavily on the diaspora, including players born in the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Sweden and Angola, who play for clubs such as Swansea City (Wales), Trabzonspor (Turkey), Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova), Krasnodar (Russia), Union Saint-Gilloise (Belgium) and Shamrock Rovers (Ireland). March’s friendlies brought a 4-2 defeat by Chile and 4-2 win on penalties following a 1-1 draw against Finland in Auckland. Last week, just 59 days before their World Cup opener, The Athletic reported that Saudi Arabia were changing their head coach, with Georgios Donis set to replace Herve Renard. Frenchman Renard, 57, had been in charge for around six years in total across two different spells, and led them to a famous group-stage victory over Lionel Messi’s Argentina at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The Saudi FA moved to make the change after defeats by Egypt (4-0) and Serbia (2-1) in March’s friendly games. The team also struggled through qualification, finishing behind Japan and Australia in the third round of AFC qualifying, then controversially edging out Iraq on goal difference in the final round robin phase. Former Greece international Donis has been coaching in club football in Saudi Arabia since 2021, and is currently in charge of Saudi Pro League side Al Khaleej. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s domestic league also saw postponements in March, due to the the war in Iran. Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa is going to his third World Cup, with a third different South American country — having also led his native Argentina in 2002 and Chile in 2010. The former Athletic Club and Leeds United coach, 70, is known for his exciting, direct tactics and intense, demanding personality. Bielsa guided Uruguay to wins over Brazil and Argentine in qualifying, but his position came under fire after a 5-1 friendly defeat by the U.S. in November. A 1-1 draw with England at Wembley and a 0-0 draw with Algeria in Italy during March’s international break have steadied things. Bielsa was appointed in May 2023 and his time has featured issues with big-name players including Inter Miami’s former Liverpool and Barcelona striker Luis Suarez and Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde. Suarez, 39, has not played for the national team for two years, but Valverde will be captain and a key player this summer. export const timeZoneAbbreviationMap = { // United States 'America/New_York': 'ET', 'America/Chicago': 'CT', 'America/Denver': 'MT', 'America/Los_Angeles': 'PT', 'America/Phoenix': 'MT', 'America/Anchorage': 'AKT', 'Pacific/Honolulu': 'HST', // Canada 'America/Toronto': 'ET', 'America/Montreal': 'ET', 'America/Winnipeg': 'CT', 'America/Edmonton': 'MT', 'America/Calgary': 'MT', 'America/Vancouver': 'PT', // Mexico 'America/Mexico_City': 'CST', 'America/Cancun': 'EST', 'America/Monterrey': 'CST', // Haiti, Curacao, Panama 'America/Port-au-Prince': 'EST', 'America/Curacao': 'AST', 'America/Panama': 'EST', // Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan, Australia, Qatar, Saudi Arabia 'Asia/Tehran': 'IRST', 'Asia/Tashkent': 'UZT', 'Asia/Seoul': 'KST', 'Asia/Amman': 'EET', 'Asia/Tokyo': 'JST', 'Asia/Shanghai': 'CST', 'Asia/Chongqing': 'CST', 'Asia/Harbin': 'CST', 'Asia/Urumqi': 'CST', 'Asia/Hong_Kong': 'CST', 'Asia/Macau': 'CST', 'Australia/Sydney': 'AEST', 'Australia/Melbourne': 'AEST', 'Australia/Brisbane': 'AEST', 'Australia/Perth': 'AWST', 'Australia/Adelaide': 'ACST', 'Australia/Darwin': 'ACST', 'Australia/Hobart': 'AEST', 'Asia/Qatar': 'AST', 'Asia/Riyadh': 'AST', // Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, Ghana 'Africa/Cairo': 'EET', 'Africa/Dakar': 'GMT', 'Africa/Johannesburg': 'SAST', 'Atlantic/Cape_Verde': 'CVT', 'Africa/Casablanca': 'WET', 'Africa/Abidjan': 'GMT', 'Africa/Algiers': 'CET', 'Africa/Tunis': 'CET', 'Africa/Accra': 'GMT', // Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay 'America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires': 'ART', 'America/Guayaquil': 'ECT', 'America/Bogota': 'COT', 'America/Montevideo': 'UYT', 'America/Sao_Paulo': 'BRT', 'America/Asuncion': 'PYT', // New Zealand 'Pacific/Auckland': 'NZT', // Germany, Switzerland, Austria 'Europe/Berlin': 'CET', 'Europe/Zurich': 'CET', 'Europe/Vienna': 'CET', // Scotland, England 'Europe/London': 'GMT', // France, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Norway, Belgium, Croatia 'Europe/Paris': 'CET', 'Europe/Madrid': 'CET', 'Europe/Lisbon': 'WET', 'Europe/Amsterdam': 'CET', 'Europe/Oslo': 'CET', 'Europe/Brussels': 'CET', 'Europe/Zagreb': 'CET', 'Europe/Moscow': 'MSK', // UTC fallback 'UTC': 'UTC', }; export const commonNames = { ET: 'Eastern Time', CT: 'Central Time', MT: 'Mountain Time', PT: 'Pacific Time', AKT: 'Alaska Time', HST: 'Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time', CST: 'China Standard Time', JST: 'Japanese Standard Time', KST: 'Korea Standard Time', AEST: 'Australian Eastern Standard Time', AWST: 'Australian Western Standard Time', ACST: 'Australian Central Standard Time', IRST: 'Iran Standard Time', UZT: 'Uzbekistan Time', EET: 'Eastern European Time', AST: 'Arabia Standard Time', SAST: 'South Africa Standard Time', CVT: 'Cape Verde Time', WET: 'Western European Time', CET: 'Central European Time', GMT: 'Greenwich Mean Time', ART: 'Argentina Time', ECT: 'Ecuador Time', COT: 'Colombia Time', UYT: 'Uruguay Time', BRT: 'Brasília Time', PYT: 'Paraguay Time', NZT: 'New Zealand Time', MSK: 'Moscow Time', UTC: 'Coordinated Universal Time', }; const monthsAp = ['Jan.', 'Feb.', 'March', 'Apr.', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'Aug.', 'Sept.', 'Oct.', 'Nov.', 'Dec.']; export const getUserZone = () => { return Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().timeZone || 'UTC'; }; export const getTimeZoneLabel = () => { const zone = getUserZone(); const abbr = timeZoneAbbreviationMap[zone]; if (abbr) { const full = commonNames[abbr] || abbr; return `${full}`; } // Fallback to Luxon short name from an example date in the zone const dt = DateTime.now().setZone(zone); const fallback = dt.isValid ? dt.offsetNameShort : 'UTC'; return fallback; }; // Format ET string to user's local time export const formatLocalTime = (date, index) => { const userTime = Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions(); const dateObj = new Date(date); const hours = dateObj.getHours() === 0 ? 12 : dateObj.getHours() > 12 ? dateObj.getHours() - 12 : dateObj.getHours(); const minutes = dateObj.getMinutes() === 0 ? '' : dateObj.getMinutes(); const amPm = dateObj.getHours() > 12 ? 'PM' : 'AM'; const timeZoneAbbrev = timeZoneAbbreviationMap[userTime.timeZone]; const timeFormatted = !minutes ? `${hours} ${amPm}` : `${hours}:${minutes} ${amPm}`; return index === 0 ? `${timeFormatted} ${timeZoneAbbrev}` : timeFormatted; return timeFormatted }; // table helper functions export const formatDate = (date) => { // get timezone const userTime = Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions(); const dateObj = new Date(date); return `${monthsAp[dateObj.getMonth()]} ${dateObj.getDate()}` } // add the times and dates let data = JSON.parse(document.getElementById("graphics-data-H").textContent); document.getElementById(`embed-timezone-info-H`).innerHTML = `All times in ${getTimeZoneLabel()}`; for (let i = 0; i < 3; i++) { let matchday = i + 1; let dataIndex = i * 2; let dataIndexEnd = dataIndex + 2; let dataFiltered = data.slice(dataIndex, dataIndexEnd); for (let i = 0; i < dataFiltered.length; i++) { const dateFormatted = formatDate(dataFiltered[i].date_utc) const timeFormatted = formatLocalTime(dataFiltered[i].date_utc); document.getElementById(`matchday-${matchday}-H-embed-date-${i}`).innerHTML = dateFormatted; document.getElementById(`matchday-${matchday}-H-embed-time-${i}`).innerHTML = timeFormatted; } }Is there anything travelling fans need to know?Much of the focus for travelling Spain fans has been on the third game of the group, in Guadalajara, Mexico. Violence erupted in Guadalajara last February after an operation meant to capture drug lord Nemesio Ruben Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho’, resulted in his death. There were military roadblocks across Jalisco, burning vehicles in parts of Guadalajara city, and prison riots in nearby Puerto Vallarta. At the time, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said “all the guarantees” for the World Cup were in place and visitors faced “no risk”. There were no security issues when DR Congo sealed their place at the finals by beating Jamaica in a play-off held at the Estadio Akron on March 31. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms