Lamine Yamal missed Spain’s first training session in New Jersey, where the World Cup finalists are preparing at the facilities of the New York Red Bulls.
Spain travelled to New Jersey the day after they beat France in Tuesday’s semi-final and trained on Thursday without Barcelona winger Yamal and Tottenham Hotspur defender Pedro Porro.
According to reporting by AS, Yamal and Porro sat out of training but both are still expected to feature in Sunday’s World Cup final at the New York New Jersey Stadium.
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Why did Lamine Yamal miss Spain training in New Jersey?
“It’s a matter of managing the players’ workload,” reports Juan Jimenez. Spain head coach Luis de la Fuente explained that Porro is experiencing muscle tightness.
“Regarding Lamine, [De la Fuente] said that he was ‘fine’. Nevertheless, the effects of the (victorious) battles against [France defenders Lucas] Digne and Theo Hernandez were evident the following day.
“Understandable aches and pains after the tackles. The aim is for the number 19, like all the players, to be as fresh as possible.”
Yamal is expected to start the World Cup final against Argentina on Sunday. The 19-year-old arrived at the World Cup having missed Barcelona’s last six La Liga fixtures of the season with a muscle injury and was eased into his debut World Cup.
The 2024 European Championship winner was brought off the bench as Spain searched for a winning goal against Cape Verde in their Group H opener last month and played 45 minutes from the start in the second game against Saudi Arabia.
He scored his first World Cup goal in that game in Atlanta, the first of seven consecutive starts in matches won by Spain. He was instrumental as the 2010 winners beat Austria, Portugal, Belgium and France to claim a place in their second World Cup final.
Yamal, who is ranked at no.1 in FourFourTwo’s list of the most exciting teenagers in the world right now, has been a regular starter for Spain since making his debut under De la Fuente in September 2023, at the age of just 16.
He was the star of the show as Spain won the European Championship the following summer and is one of the headline acts as the World Cup reaches its conclusion in New Jersey.
Spain are the favourites ahead of the final and with good reason.
While Argentina have been forced to dig deep and have looked in trouble on several occasions during the knock-out rounds, Spain have made it to the final with the smooth running of a well-oiled machine.
After a shock goalless draw with Cape Verde, Spain won all their games on the road to the final without much fuss. The only goal they’ve conceded in the tournament was against Belgium in the quarter-finals.
With a squad expected to be at full strength, De la Fuente will likely be planning for more of the same on Sunday.