A Baena goal gives Spain a 1-0 win over Uruguay and top spot in Group H
Álex Baena scored the only goal of a tense clash that sends Spain through as group winners and knocks out Bielsa's Uruguay at the 2026 World Cup.
Spain edged Uruguay 1-0 at Estadio Akron in Zapopan, the Guadalajara-area venue for the 2026 World Cup holding 45,664 spectators and home of Club Deportivo Guadalajara, to close the third round of Group H. The win came at this 48-team World Cup staged by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
The match, scrappy and full of niggle, was settled by a moment of quality before the break. In the 42nd minute, Álex Baena beat Fernando Muslera after a Marcos Llorente assist to put La Roja ahead, and Spain then managed the lead with possession and defensive order.
Uruguay, needing a win to keep their hopes alive, ran into a wall. The Spanish defence, with Aymeric Laporte as its bastion —named player of the match— and Unai Simón's goal kept a clean sheet against the Charrúa drive.
Luis de la Fuente set Spain up in a 4-2-3-1, while Marcelo Bielsa countered with a Uruguayan 4-1-4-1 that gradually unravelled as the minutes passed. The closing stretch was a flurry of cards: yellows for Spain's Álex Baena (46') and Uruguay's Jonathan Sanabria (54'), Guillermo Varela (58') and Nicolás de la Cruz (90+3'), plus a red for Agustín Canobbio (90+5'), which left La Celeste with ten in the dying moments.
With this win, Spain close Group H as leaders on seven points and advance confidently to the last 16 of the 2026 World Cup. Uruguay, by contrast, finish third on two points and bow out of the tournament, a painful exit for Bielsa's project.