Spain's Lamine Yamal mistake might've changed everything for World Cup favorites

 Spain played the first 70 minutes of its opening match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup without Lamine Yamal.

The Spanish side likely assumed they'd be running away from Cape Verde by that point, and that whatever injury Yamal could be dealing with could heal a little more before he's called upon at this tournament.

But at that point in time, it was 0-0, and so Yamal was brought on.

He was electric in the final 20 minutes of the match, not quite creating a goal but looking by far the most dangerous man to have taken the pitch the entire day.

It raised the simple question: What was Spain thinking?

How Spain not starting Lamine Yamal could turn out to be a huge mistake

Spain will still expect to advance to the knockout stages and go deep into the tournament. They're still a favorite to win the entire World Cup.

But points in the group stage matter, and instead of getting the 3 points for a win they would've expected, Spain instead got 1 point for a draw.

Winning the group creates much easier matchups early in the knockout stages.

Now, Spain may be in danger of finishing second in the group instead. If that happens, they're looking at a tougher road to the trophy.

Of course, if Spain truly is the best team in the world, maybe that won't matter in the end.

But as it turns out, all they needed on Monday was one goal. They couldn't even create that.

An hour or more of Yamal surely would've made all the difference, and each step of this tournament journey matters.

They took a big misstep against Cape Verde, in large part because they opted not to start the best young player on the planet.