Teen Gavi leads Spain to 7-0 rout of Costa Rica at World Cup

Not since Pelé in 1958 had somebody as younger as Gavi scored a objective on the World Cup.

The 18-year-old midfielder led the way in which Wednesday as Spain pulled off the most important World Cup victory in its historical past, routing Costa Rica 7-0.

“I might by no means have imagined it,” stated Gavi, who was named the sport’s Most worthy participant. “I do know I’m the youngest within the staff and I respect everybody, however on the sector it’s completely different and I convey out my greatest.”

– Commercial –

Pelé scored two objectives within the 1958 last, when Brazil gained its first World Cup by beating Sweden 5-2.

“I’m proud to be in that podium,” he stated. “Not even in my desires I had imagined this.”

Gavi solely managed to attain one objective on Wednesday, however his teammates added loads of others.

Not lengthy after Japan shocked Germany 2-1 within the different Group E match, Spain’s younger squad prevented any probability of an upset with Dani Olmo, Marco Asensio and Ferran Torres scoring a objective every within the first half. Torres, Gavi, Carlos Soler and Álvaro Morata added to the lead within the second half.

Along with Gavi’s mark, Olmo’s objective was the one hundredth at World Cups for “La Roja,” which grew to become the sixth nation to attain greater than 100 instances within the event.

It was the primary time Spain scored seven objectives in a World Cup match, and the primary time a staff accomplished 1,000 passes in a 90-minute recreation on the event.

“Our solely objective is to regulate the sport repeatedly, and to do this it is advisable have the ball,” Spain coach Luis Enrique stated.

With Gavi and 19-year-old Pedri beginning, Spain additionally grew to become the primary European nation with two youngsters within the beginning line-up of a World Cup match in 60 years, based on statistics platform Opta.

Gavi and Pedri had been among the many many kids picked by Luis Enrique in a revamped squad in Qatar — the third-youngest staff among the many 32 nations, after america and Ghana.

The younger duo helped Spain management the tempo of the match from the beginning at Al Thumama Stadium. The 22-year-old Torres, who’s courting the daughter of coach Luis Enrique, scored his first World Cup objective from the penalty spot within the thirty first minute. The others got here through the run of play.

“When issues go your means like this, soccer turns into great,” Luis Enrique stated. “We performed exceptionally nicely with and with out the ball.”

Costa Rica appeared overwhelmed all through the sport in its third straight World Cup marketing campaign, failing to even get a single try on objective. The staff got here to Qatar hoping to repeat its shock run to the quarterfinals in 2014 in Brazil and keep away from a repeat of its winless displaying 4 years in the past in Russia.

“We didn’t maintain on to the possession as we must always have finished it,” Costa Rica coach Luis Fernando Suárez stated. “We couldn’t full three or 4 passes.”

Spanish gamers made it look simple with the ball on their toes, ending the match with 72 p.c of possession.

Spain, which didn’t get previous the spherical of 16 in Russia, is making an attempt to interrupt by with a serious title after making it to the ultimate of the Nations League and the semi-finals of final yr’s European Championship. This yr the staff additionally certified for the Ultimate 4 of the Nations League for a second straight time. Spain’s final main triumph got here at Euro 2012, two years after it gained its lone World Cup title in South Africa.

Solely 5 international locations have scored extra objectives than Spain on the World Cup — Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy, and France.

Spain subsequent faces four-time World Cup champion Germany on Sunday in probably the most anticipated matches of the World Cup.