Mikel Oyarzabal’s penalty against France in Tuesday’s semifinal win in Arlington, Texas was his fifth goal of the tournament. That made him the joint-highest scorer for Spain at a single World Cup, level with Emilio Butragueño, who scored five at Mexico 1986, and David Villa, who scored five at South Africa 2010 when Spain lifted the trophy for the first and only time in their history.Three players. Three different generations. Five goals each. And now, one World Cup final to play.The record places Oyarzabal in extraordinary company. Butragueño was the talismanic striker of Spain’s golden generation of the late 1980s, best remembered for his four-goal demolition of Denmark in the 1986 Round of 16, still one of the most complete individual performances in Spanish football history. Villa, meanwhile, was the heartbeat of Spain’s all-conquering side under Vicente Del Bosque , his five goals in South Africa helping usher in a 1-0 final win over the Netherlands that made Spain world champions for the first time.Oyarzabal’s five goals at this tournament have arrived across the full length of Spain’s campaign- in the group stage, the knockout rounds and now the semifinal. His penalty against France was coolly taken, sending Maignan the wrong way with the composure of a man entirely comfortable on the biggest stage.What makes the achievement even more remarkable is that Oyarzabal has done it from the number nine position in a Spain team that is built to attack from everywhere. Pedro Porro scored Wednesday’s second goal from right back. Lamine Yamal and Pedri have both contributed heavily in the final third. Yet it is Oyarzabal who has led the line, finished the chances and written his name into Spanish football history.Butragueño did it in 1986. Villa did it in 2010 and won the World Cup. On Sunday in New York, Oyarzabal has the chance to do something neither of them ever did – score a sixth goal at a single World Cup and lift the trophy in the same tournament.
