Yamal, Williams and Muñoz to miss Peru friendly but cleared for Spain’s World Cup opener

Spain’s head coach Luis de la Fuente has declared that teenage sensation Lamine Yamal and fellow wingers Nico Williams and Víctor Muñoz will be fit for the European champions’ World Cup opener against Cape Verde in Atlanta on 15 June, despite all three being held back from Monday’s friendly against Peru in Puebla. The trio remained at the squad’s United States base camp in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where medical staff advised against the journey to Mexico while they complete recovery from muscular injuries. De la Fuente expressed regret at their absence but described their progress as on track, though he cautioned that Yamal’s minutes in the opening fixture are likely to be managed after missing the end of Barcelona’s league season with a hamstring problem.

Monday’s fixture at the Estadio Cuauhtémoc marks Spain’s first visit to Mexico in four decades, a fact that ignited an outpouring of enthusiasm among local fans. Thousands greeted the team upon arrival at their Puebla hotel, unfurling Spanish flags and chanting for a side they had not hosted since the mid-1980s. The Royal Spanish Football Federation described the reception as “unreal” on social media, a sentiment that underscored the symbolic weight of the occasion in a football-mad nation. For a squad using North America as its logistical hub before the tournament co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada, the match also serves as a bridge between the team’s European preparations and its World Cup campaign on unfamiliar ground.

The friendly is Spain’s last rehearsal before the tournament, coming just days after a 1–1 draw with Iraq in A Coruña that exposed lingering defensive fragility. De la Fuente will use the Peru match to fine-tune his starting eleven, knowing that his most explosive attacking weapons are being preserved for the Cape Verde clash. Viewed from Madrid, the management of Yamal’s workload is a delicate balancing act: the 18-year-old is the side’s most unpredictable creative force, yet rushing his return risks a relapse that would harm both the player and Spain’s title ambitions.

Across Latin America, the narrative has been split between the spectacle in Puebla and the cold calculus of World Cup preparation. Mexican outlets have focused on the emotional return of La Roja, while Argentina’s financial press highlighted Spain’s status as one of the tournament’s strongest contenders and drew parallels with other squads’ injury concerns. In Asia, coverage leaned on the absence of star names from the warm-up, a reminder that the World Cup’s global audience is parsing every fitness bulletin as opening matches approach. De la Fuente’s cautious optimism suggests Spain will arrive in Atlanta with its most potent line-up intact, but the margin for error has narrowed with the compressed timeline between recovery and competitive action.