Lamine Yamal Ready for Full 90 Minutes

Spain's star forward, Lamine Yamal, is fit enough to play full matches for Spain in the knockout stages of the North American World Cup, confirmed national team coach Luis de la Fuente.

The 18-year-old Barcelona winger has scored one goal and played just 141 minutes across Spain's three group stage matches. This makes him arguably the only global superstar who hasn't truly shone in a World Cup dominated by top players like Mbappé, Messi, Kane, Vinicius, and Haaland. Yamal's minutes were limited to optimize his recovery from a hamstring tear sustained on April 22.

"Lamine can play as much as needed," De La Fuente stated. "We've been quite cautious with him, as we are with all our players recovering, adhering to timelines and monitoring game developments. Lamine is doing very well now, and most importantly, everyone can see how much he wants to play."

Nico Williams is highly likely to miss Thursday's Round of 16 clash against Austria. "Nico was very upset. He thought he was seriously injured again. Fortunately, that's not the case; it's just a minor issue. That's why he probably won't be able to play tomorrow, but we are very optimistic he'll be back in top form for the next match," De la Fuente said, without specifying the nature of Williams' problem.

Williams was fouled by Nicolas de la Cruz in the final group stage match against Uruguay and was limping after the game. "Today is one of the worst days of my life. I'm injured again after a very difficult year," the Athletic Bilbao player wrote on social media after the match. This season, he has battled groin issues, among other injuries.

Spain also received more good news regarding injured players. Yeremy Pino has recovered after seemingly spraining his left shoulder in the victory over Uruguay. The Crystal Palace winger will be available for De La Fuente for the match against Austria. Victor Muñoz is also ready, with the Liverpool signing having missed the group stage due to a muscle injury.