Lamine Yamal Sits Out Spain Training But Remains On Track To Start World Cup Final

Spain arrived at the New York Red Bulls’ training base in New Jersey on Thursday for their final preparations before Sunday’s World Cup final, and two key names were missing from the group session: Lamine Yamal and Pedro Porro. Neither absence is expected to affect the team sheet, but the timing, two days out from Argentina and the biggest match of Yamal’s career so far, was enough to draw attention from those tracking Spain’s build-up. Both players have started the majority of Spain’s knockout matches this summer, and any late fitness question involving either of them was always going to make headlines this close to a World Cup final.

Workload, Not Injury, Behind The Absence

Spain travelled to New Jersey the day after beating France 2-0 in Tuesday’s semi-final and trained on Thursday without their Barcelona winger and their Tottenham Hotspur full-back. According to reporting from AS, both players sat out of the session but remain expected to feature when Spain face Argentina at the New York New Jersey Stadium on Sunday.

Head coach Luis de la Fuente described the decision as workload management. Porro is dealing with muscle tightness, an issue that leaves De la Fuente with a decision to make at right-back if the discomfort has not cleared by Sunday. Regarding Yamal, De la Fuente said the winger was “fine,” adding that the effects of his physical battles with France defenders Lucas Digne and Theo Hernandez were still evident the day after the semi-final. He called them “understandable aches and pains after the tackles” and said the aim was for the number 19, like every player in the squad, to be as fresh as possible for Sunday.

Managing a squad through a run to the final always involves this kind of balancing act, and De la Fuente’s language suggests Spain see Thursday’s absences as routine maintenance rather than a genuine selection doubt. Neither player has been ruled out, and both are expected to be involved when the teams are confirmed.

Put together, that record amounts to six clean sheets from seven matches for Spain this summer, with Belgium the only side to have found a way past their defence. It is that consistency, as much as any individual performance, that De la Fuente points to when explaining why his squad can afford to manage minutes carefully for players like Yamal and Porro without taking unnecessary risks with the result.

A Debut Tournament Managed Carefully From The Start

Spain have handled Yamal’s workload with care throughout the tournament. The 19-year-old arrived at the World Cup having missed Barcelona’s last six La Liga matches of the season with a muscle injury, and De la Fuente eased him into his first World Cup rather than starting him from game one. He came off the bench in the Group H opener against Cape Verde as Spain searched for a winning goal, then played 45 minutes from the start against Saudi Arabia in Atlanta, where he scored his first World Cup goal.

That goal in Atlanta opened a run of six consecutive starts in matches Spain has won. Yamal played a key role as the European champions beat Austria, Portugal, Belgium and France on the way to a second World Cup final under De la Fuente, who first gave him his senior debut in September 2023 at the age of 16. He is currently ranked number one in FourFourTwo’s list of the most exciting teenage players in the world, and Sunday’s final is the biggest stage he has faced yet in his young international career.

Smoke Over New Jersey

Spain’s build-up has also played out under an unusual backdrop. New York City has been under an air quality warning this week as smoke from hundreds of wildfires burning across Canada drifted south, with the alert upgraded to “Very Unhealthy” on Thursday evening before conditions began improving on Friday morning. The smoke arrived on the back of a separate midweek heat advisory, and it has not been limited to New York: Detroit and several other major American cities have also recorded severe drops in air quality this week.

Rain forecast for Saturday is expected to clear the air further, and there is no indication the final itself will be affected. New York New Jersey Stadium, home of the NFL’s Jets and Giants, has hosted seven World Cup matches so far this summer. Brazil, Senegal, France and Norway have each played there twice, and Slovenian official Slavko Vincic, who took charge of the stadium’s opening match between Brazil and Morocco, has been confirmed as referee for Sunday’s final. For Spain and Argentina, it will be a first look at the ground that will decide the tournament.

The Road To New Jersey

Spain have not been troubled often on their way to the final. After the opening draw with Cape Verde, they beat Saudi Arabia 4-0, edged Uruguay 1-0 and thrashed Austria 3-0 to finish the group phase, then won 1-0 away to Portugal in the last 16 before beating Belgium 2-1 in the quarter-final, the only match all tournament in which De la Fuente’s side have conceded. Tuesday’s 2-0 win over France in the semi-final, without reply, completed the set.

Argentina’s route has been noisier. Lionel Scaloni’s side beat Austria 2-0 and Jordan 3-1 in the group stage, then needed late goals to see off both Cape Verde, 3-2 in the last 32, and Egypt, 3-2 again in the last 16. A 3-1 win over Switzerland in the quarter-final was more comfortable before Wednesday’s dramatic 2-1 turnaround against England, secured in stoppage time. Where Spain have controlled matches from the front, Argentina have repeatedly had to come from behind, a contrast that De la Fuente’s players will be well aware of heading into Sunday.

Between them, the two sides have scored 29 goals across their last six matches alone, a reflection of how differently each has approached the tournament. Spain have preferred to settle games early and manage the rest, while Argentina have repeatedly needed a grandstand finish to stay in the competition, a habit Scaloni’s side will be keen to break rather than repeat in the final itself.

Spain’s Case As Favourites

Spain go into the final as favourites. Argentina have needed late goals to get through several of their knockout matches and have looked stretched at times, while Spain have reached the final with what has, at points, resembled a well-oiled machine. Beyond a goalless draw with Cape Verde in the group stage, they have won every match on the way to New Jersey without much fuss, and the only goal they have conceded in the entire tournament came against Belgium in the quarter-finals.

Sunday’s game is Argentina’s third World Cup final in the last four editions of the tournament, with the reigning champions looking to retain the trophy. Spain, by contrast, are back in a World Cup final for only the second time, arriving on the back of their European Championship win at Euro 2024, a tournament where Yamal was one of the breakout performers as a teenager. Sunday will also be the first World Cup final played on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and only the second staged in the country, 32 years after Brazil beat Italy at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

None of that history will count for much once the teams walk out in New Jersey. What will count is whether De la Fuente’s careful handling of his squad through six previous knockout matches leaves Spain fresher than an Argentina side that has repeatedly had to find late goals just to stay alive in the competition.

For Yamal personally, Sunday caps a tournament that began with him fighting for fitness and ends with him one win away from a World Cup medal before his twentieth birthday. De la Fuente has resisted any temptation to rush that story along, and the approach to Thursday’s training session, rest first, assess second, fits the pattern De la Fuente has followed with Yamal throughout his time in the senior squad, going back to 2023.

With a fully fit squad expected to be available, De la Fuente is likely to set his side up in the same way that has carried them to just one goal conceded across the whole tournament. Yamal, one of the most exciting teenage talents in the world game, is set to line up against Argentina having played every minute he has needed to reach this point, not necessarily every minute available. Spain’s careful handling of their brightest young forward through a long, physical tournament faces one final test on Sunday, in front of a global audience and, if the smoke clears as expected, under clear skies in New Jersey. Kick-off at the New York New Jersey Stadium is set for Sunday evening, with both squads expected to be at close to full strength after a week built around recovery, careful planning and, for a few days at least, an anxious eye on the sky above New York.