Spain secured top spot in Group H with a 1-0 victory over Uruguay in Guadalajara, a result that eliminated the two-time world champions at the group stage. Yet the night’s defining image was not the goal but the sight of Nico Williams limping off after a heavy challenge from De la Cruz deep in added time, an incident that triggered a melee between the sides and a straight red card moments later for Uruguay’s Agustín Canobbio after a separate lunge on Pau Cubarsí.

Williams, who had been carefully managed through the group phase after an injury-disrupted season with Athletic Bilbao, was diagnosed with a moderate muscle injury in his right adductor. The Spanish football federation stated his availability would depend on how the team progresses, but the player himself struck a far more anguished tone. In a lengthy post on social media, he described the day as “one of the worst of my life” and said the tackle was “completely unnecessary” and the act of a professional “driven by frustration, unhappiness and sadness”. The message, widely reproduced across Spanish-language outlets from Madrid to Buenos Aires, laid bare the personal toll of a year-and-a-half battle with pubalgia and a subsequent hamstring problem.

Yeremy Pino also left the pitch in distress after falling heavily on his left shoulder. Initial fears of a fractured clavicle were allayed when scans revealed an acromioclavicular sprain, a ligament injury that, like Williams’s, was classified as moderate. Spanish coach Luis de la Fuente, speaking after the match, had described Pino’s effort to finish the game as “heroic”, but the federation’s medical update kept both wide players in the squad, their return contingent on Spain’s longevity in the tournament.

The double injury blow compounds a pre-existing shortage of fully fit wide forwards for the European champions. Lamine Yamal has not completed a full 90 minutes in over two months as he is eased back from a hamstring issue, while new Liverpool signing Víctor Muñoz has yet to feature at the World Cup because of fitness problems. Across Brazilian and Argentine media, the incident was framed as a flashpoint that exposed Uruguay’s frustration, with De la Cruz’s Flamengo club affiliation noted prominently in coverage from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo.

Spain now travel to Los Angeles for a round-of-32 tie on Thursday against the Group J runner-up, which will be either Austria or Algeria. The federation has not ruled Williams or Pino out of that fixture, but their participation will hinge on daily assessments in Chattanooga before the squad moves west.