Oyarzabal Double Fires Spain Past Austria 3-0 and Into World Cup Last 16

Spain are through to the World Cup last 16 after sweeping aside Austria 3-0 in Los Angeles, ending a 16-year wait for a knockout stage victory at the tournament dating back to their 2010 triumph.

Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice, with Pedro Porro adding a header in between, as Spain produced a dominant display that could easily have been more emphatic. They will now face either Portugal or Croatia in Dallas on Monday 6 July.

Oyarzabal broke the deadlock on 36 minutes, sweeping home Marc Cucurella's low cross from 12 yards after Spain had been frustrated for much of the opening period. An earlier Cucurella effort had been ruled out after Pau Cubarsi was judged to have fouled goalkeeper Alexander Schlager at a corner, and Schlager had also produced a brilliant double save in first-half stoppage time, tipping Alex Baena's free-kick onto the crossbar before blocking Lamine Yamal's follow-up.

Spain continued to press after the break and doubled their lead on 66 minutes when Baena's cross from the left found Porro arriving at the back post to power a header past Schlager. Oyarzabal then completed the scoring with a minute remaining, sliding home Cucurella's through ball to claim his fourth goal of the tournament.

Austria, playing their first World Cup knockout match since 1954, rarely threatened. Substitute Sasa Kalajdzic headed over with his first touch from a promising position, and that summed up their evening. They registered no shots on target and no corner kicks across the entire match.

The statistics illustrated just how one-sided it was. Spain had 10 shots on target to Austria's none, won 9 corners to nil, and completed 610 passes at 91% accuracy. Like Mexico, Spain have now gone four matches at this World Cup without conceding a goal.

Yamal was lively throughout, tormenting makeshift left-back Konrad Laimer, and was denied what would have been a deserved goal late on when David Alaba cleared his effort off the line. The 18-year-old has not matched some of his fellow stars for goals and assists at this tournament, but his quality was evident all night in Los Angeles.