Spanish footballer, Mikel Oryazabal, representing his country at the ongoing FIFA World Cup has set an unwanted record of becoming the first player in the competition to play in 30 minutes of a single match without touching the ball.
Oryazabal featured for Spain, and in the starting line up against Cape Verde in a Group H encounter at the Atlanta Stadium yesterday, but didn’t make a single contact of the ball, becoming the first player on the undesirable run in the mundial soccer competition since 1966.
Spain dominated the ball, the territory and the shot count, yet the score stayed frozen at 0-0 against Cabo Verde in FIFA World Cup Group H.
The crowd of 67,640 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Monday watched a siege that never became a breakthrough, with Spain firing 27 shots and building 2.16 xG to Cape Verde’s 0.30, the latter, setting up in a compact 4-1-4-1, defended deep and cleared everything that came their way
Spain’s 4-3-3 flowed through midfield and wide areas, but the finishing touch would not arrive as the game finished 0-0.