FIFA World Cup Day 5 recap: Cape Verde deny mighty Spain on historic day of draws

For the first time since 1958, as many as eight teams earned points on the same day at the FIFA World Cup and the highlight of it all was tiny Cape Verde holding 2010 champions Spain to a draw in their first ever match of the tournament.

Cape Verde players celebrate after the World Cup Group H match against Spain. (AP Photo)

5 min readJun 16, 2026 10:22 AM IST First published on: Jun 16, 2026 at 10:20 AM IST

Just being at the FIFA World Cup is history enough for Cape Verde, one would have thought. In their first appearance at the tournament, they were facing a star-studded Spain, a team that had the luxury to not even select a single Spanish player from Real Madrid. Cape Verde, on the other hand, have a leading player who was recruited through LinkedIn to turn up for them and plays for Shamrock Rovers in Ireland. And yet, on the day, they frustrated Spain right till the end and ground out a 0-0 draw.

Their 33-year-old defender Roberto Lopes, the aforementioned LinkedIn find, and their 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, were the two great heroes of the effort at the Atlanta Stadium. Spanish head coach Luis De la Fuente’s initial tactics did not help. The Spaniards stretched their team wide and rotated the ball in the early minutes, but their wastefulness was worrisome. Mikel Oyarzabal, de la Fuente’s striker of choice, managed to get his first touch in the 30th minute of the game. Spain, tipped to be the champions of the World in North America, had only found their feet against the islanders as the first half came to a close. They ended the half with 16 pointless crosses.

Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, key to de la Fuente’s direct attacking philosophy, were still nursing their end-of-season injuries. Yamal came on only towards the end of the second half, along with Mikel Merino and Dani Olmo. For once, the 2010 champions were close to the full strength squad they’d have liked to field. But, Cape Verde withstood it all and in the end, came out with as many points as Spain from that match.

That was one of four draws that happened on the day, which in itself is a piece of World Cup history.

Belgium’s ageing golden generation held to 1-1 draw by Egypt

Positivity around Belgium’s golden generation of players has been replaced with negativity and infighting long ago but there is hope that what remains of it can take one last shot at a major title for the country before they bow out. However, they were off to an unimpressive start. Egypt, who have never won a World Cup match before, were delirious after Emam Ashour’s 19th minute strike gave them the lead.

Romelu Lukaku entered in the 66th minute against Egypt on Monday and the veteran striker immediately created a scoring chance that led to an equalizing own goal, but that was all Belgium could manage in a 1-1 draw. Belgium were completely outplayed in the first half, which didn’t bode well for what remains of their golden generation – 33-year-old Lukaku and two 34-year-olds in midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and 34-year-old goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

Araujo’s late equaliser gives Uruguay 1-1 draw vs Saudi Arabia

Maxi Araujo finally gave the crowd of mostly Uruguay fans in Miami something to cheer about with his tying goal late in Monday’s World Cup opener against Saudi Arabia. La Celeste salvaged a point, but they were not thrilled with the result. Star midfielder Fede Valverde said after the game that Uruguay “gave it away”.

Uruguay dominated possession and had 29 attempts on goal to Saudi Arabia’s seven but trailed until late in the second half. Abdulelah Al-Amri scored on a rebound in the 41st minute for Saudi Arabia, and Araujo got the equalizer in the 80th, firing a rebound past goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais from close range.

Iran, New Zealand play out thrilling 2-2 draw in politically charged atmosphere

There were boos and cheers in equal measure around the SoFi Stadium, called the Los Angeles Stadium for this tournament, when Iran’s national anthem was played. The boos weren’t from the New Zealand fans but those wearing Iran colours as politics of the day unsurprisingly took central position in the leadup to Iran’s opening game of the tournament against New Zealand.

However, what followed all that was a thrilling game in which neither side deserved to lose. New Zealand took the lead twice and Iran answered back each time, even threatening to take the lead themselves when they established their superiority towards the end of the match. New Zealand took an early lead when Elijah Just volleyed home from inside the box after being set up by Chris Wood.

While there were some who cheered that goal, a large majority of the crowd of 70,000 at the stadium erupted when Ramin Rezaeian equalised shortly after the half-hour mark. Wood and Just combined again early in the second half, the New ?Zealand captain sliding a precise pass into the 26-year-old forward’s path before Just hammered home to restore the All Whites’ lead. Iran responded 10 minutes later with a super goal from Mohammad Mohebbi, who headed Rezaeian’s perfect cross in off the far post to make it 2-2.