OYARZABAL'S FIFTH GOAL PUTS SPAIN IN THE WORLD CUP FINAL

The clock read 22 minutes when Lucas Digne kicked Lamine Yamal in the box, and by the time the whistle finished blowing, Mikel Oyarzabal was already picking a corner. He sent the penalty low, waited for the goalkeeper to guess wrong, and put Spain ahead 1 0 in a World Cup semifinal that Spain would win 2 0 over France. It was his fifth goal of the tournament. It was also, per Spain's own federation account and the "433" recap that circulated within minutes, part of a run that now reads 24 goal contributions in his last 18 appearances for the national team.

Pedro Porro added the second in the 58th minute and Spain closed it out, advancing to the final in New York on July 19 against the winner of Argentina and England. That is the scoreboard. The scoreboard, as always, undersells what actually happened.

22nd Minute, Yamal Draws It, Oyarzabal Buries It

Start with the sequence itself, because it tells you who Oyarzabal has become. Yamal chased down a loose ball off a bad bounce, beat Digne to it, and got clipped. Oyarzabal did not flinch over the spot. He has scored in six straight finals across his career, a Euro final included, so a semifinal penalty in front of 80,000 people is not exactly new pressure for him. Spain's run through the knockout rounds has been a group effort. Keyne Yamal stole the sideline story when Spain beat Austria 3 0 in the round of 32, but Oyarzabal scored both goals in that game. That is the pattern underneath the pattern. Yamal creates headlines. Oyarzabal creates goals.

Real Sociedad's Own Has Been Doing This For Years

This is not a hot streak from nowhere. Oyarzabal has spent his entire senior career at Real Sociedad, 129 goals in 428 appearances, and he scored in both of the club's Copa del Rey final wins, 2019 20 and 2025 26. He scored the 86th minute winner against England in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin. Add the World Cup penalty against France and he has now scored in an Olympic final, two Copa del Rey finals, two Nations League finals, and a Euro final. Six finals, six goals. The France penalty was not a final, technically, but it moved Spain one win away from a seventh.

Five Goals Is Not Nothing, But It Is Not the Golden Boot

Here is the fair counterpoint, and it matters. Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi are tied at the top of the Golden Boot race with eight goals each, Erling Haaland has seven, Harry Kane has six. Oyarzabal's five goals are excellent for a player who is not the primary center forward, but they are not the tournament's best scoring tally, and the sample includes a Saudi Arabia group match where the opposition was overmatched from the opening whistle. He also did not score in Spain's 2 1 quarterfinal win over Belgium; Fabian Ruiz and substitute Mikel Merino did the scoring that day. Streaks built partly on lopsided fixtures and partly on knockout moments deserve both the credit and the asterisk.

Spain Has Not Lost a Knockout Match Yet

Still, the knockout run stands on its own. Round of 32, Austria, 3 0. Round of 16, Portugal, 1 0. Quarterfinal, Belgium, 2 1, decided by a substitute goal 117 seconds after he entered. Semifinal, France, 2 0, decided by Oyarzabal's penalty and Porro's follow up. Four knockout games, one goal conceded. Spain now sits alongside Argentina and England as the last four standing turned into the final two, and Oyarzabal has been on the scoresheet or the assist sheet in three of those four matches. That is not a Golden Boot case. It is a leverage case, the kind a front office or a national federation would pay for, because it means the goals arrive exactly when the format eliminates you for not having them.

The Final Arrives July 19, and Oyarzabal Has a Pattern

Spain plays the Argentina or England winner in New York on July 19. Two predictions worth tracking against the record. First, Oyarzabal starts, because Luis de la Fuente has not benched him once in a knockout match, and second, he scores or assists in that final, extending the six for six finals streak to seven. If Yamal, whose 41 goal contributions this year already outpace most attackers his age, keeps drawing the fouls and creating the space, Oyarzabal keeps cashing them. The scoreboard will say Spain won or lost. The truth will be in whether the 22nd minute habit showed up one more time.