The World Cup between the United States, Mexico and Canada has entered its hottest phase, and with the arrival of the quarterfinals, the surviving teams begin to glimpse glory. In the txuri-urdin code, the spotlights undoubtedly point to one name: Miquel Oyarzabal..
After a demanding qualifying round of 16, the Real Sociedad captain was the last representative of Zubieta’s delegation at the World Cup tournament. He is the survivor of the Churi-Urdin quartet that started the 2026 World Cup with enthusiasm, but he has seen the road lead to the elimination of the teams of Take Kubo, Luka Sučić and, on Monday, Gonçalo Guedes in a fratricidal duel against Oyarzabal’s side.
Great performance
Striker Gipuzkoan’s career on American soil was brilliant. Without making any noise but being lethal, Oyarzabal provided an excellent example of attack for Luis de la Fuente’s team. He is a member of the State team’s starting XI and, despite having self-admitted physical problems during the World Cup after the opening draw with Cape Verde, he is aiming to reach the quarter-finals against Belgium this evening (9pm).
Four goals in the tournament – two braces scored by Saudi Arabia in the group stage (4-0) and Austria in the round of 16 (3-0) – put Eibartarran in contention for the World Cup Golden Boot (Haaland, Messi and Mbappe already have seven goals each).
At 29 years old, Mikel not only acts as a leader in the dressing room, but his development into an associative and timely number nine has silenced any controversy. Each of his goals at this World Cup has been scored with his first touch, demonstrating intuition and maturity of the highest level.
Other World Championship winners
The contrast is stark if we look at the fate of his three locker room neighbors in Zubieta. The most painful farewell, without a doubt, was that of Take Kubo. The Japanese striker began the World Cup as one of Japan’s stars, but his dream came to a brutal end on his debut against the Netherlands. A very hard tackle from Denzel Dumfries dislocated his left knee, forcing him to watch the rest of the Japanese team flee the bench. Without their imbalance and after missing matches with Tunisia and Sweden, Japan ended up losing the round of 16 to Brazil with honor in the last minute (2-1).
For his part, Luka Sučić leaves the tournament, having written his name in Croatian history. The midfielder, who survived the Qatar World Cup from the bench, made his official World Cup debut during the 1-0 win over Panama, coming on in the 73rd minute to provide balance and possession to the Balkan midfielder. However, Croatia’s journey ended in the round of 16 after losing to Portugal in a match that was controversial over the refereeing.
This Portuguese triumph briefly extended Gonçalo Guedes’ stay at the World Cup. The Real Madrid winger, who had a fantastic season at Anoeta with 9 goals and 7 assists, convinced Roberto Martinez, did not make his debut in the tournament.
The most successful
Having scored 4 goals in this draw, Oyarzabal was officially recognized as the top scorer of Real Madrid and Guipuzcoa in the history of the World Cup. A throne that had hitherto been widespread and that Mikel had conquered with power. Seven other royalists also managed to score: Igoa (2) in Brazil in 1950; Lopez Ufarte (1) in Spain, 1982; Zamora (1) in Spain, 1982; Gorris (1) in Italy, 1990; Moutiou (1), France, 1998; Seferovic (1) in Brazil, 2014; and Januzaj (1) in Russia, 2018
While the rest of his teammates will gradually return to Subieta to begin pre-season under Pellegrino Matarazzo, Oyarzabal continues to take Real Madrid’s World Cup top spot after a mini-holiday.