With a 1-0 win over Argentina, Lamine Yamal has become the 4th youngest World Cup winner. But the one thing that isn’t going to stop is the criticism. Former USWNT player Carli Lloyd, after the World Cup, said that Yamal didn’t have a good World Cup, and now she has doubled down on it.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
“19 years old and still has a long way to go. A lot can happen and play a role in someone’s career. We will all see how it plays out. The expectation of him this WC was to ball out. He came in injured..ok…, but he was average. He played a role in helping Spain win. He did not play well in the final,” wrote the ex-player, arguing about her first statement.
Just hours after Spain lifted the World Cup, Carli Lloyd wasted no time in poking the topic of Lamine Yamal. At 19, many fans believed that winning the World Cup settled every argument surrounding his tournament.
Carli Lloyd, however, refused to change her opinion after one fan reminded her about the milestone. “And? Doesn’t mean he individually had a good tournament,” Lloyd replied, saying that this win isn’t enough.
Nah I will keep doing what I want since this is my phone and platform. Exactly, 19 years old and still has a long way to go. A lot can happen and play a role in someone’s career. We will all see how it plays out.
The expectation of him this WC was to ball out. He came in… https://t.co/KuCnJ3owUq
— Carli Lloyd (@CarliLloyd) July 20, 2026
If we look at just Yamal’s statistics, one can understand where Lloyd’s argument might come from. The Spain winger finished with just 1 goal in almost 615 minutes and 8 games played. The one goal came against Saudi Arabia, while he finished the other games without a goal or an assist.
Compared with teenage World Cup winners like Pelé and Kylian Mbappé, those attacking numbers naturally appear quieter. If goals and assists tell the whole story, Yamal’s tournament hardly stands beside soccer’s greatest individual World Cup campaigns.
The World Cup final showed exactly why Spain valued Lamine Yamal beyond the goals and assists. Argentina threw extra defenders at him almost every time he touched the ball, yet he still finished with the most shots, completed five successful dribbles and created the best chance for Spain.
The goals sure didn’t come, but the space he created sure did. As the Argentina defense stretched to limit him, Ferran Torres found the opening to score the winner. That was basically Yamal’s tournament in a nutshell.
Spain didn’t rely on him to finish moves; they relied on him to start them. As far as the numbers go, throughout the tournament he has racked up 341 touches, 156 completed passes, 15 shots, and 21 successful dribbles. He spent more time creating chances than chasing goals.
And that’s why opinions about him remain divided. While some judge him by his numbers up front, others see a bigger picture. Sometimes soccer’s biggest influence never reaches the scoresheet, and Lamine Yamal’s tournament is the perfect example of this.
