Spain 0 - 0 Cape Verde

Belgium 1 - 1 Egypt

Saudi Arabia 1 - 1 Uruguay

Iran 2 - 2 New Zealand 

While yesterday was a goalfest, today was more of a cagey affair, with some nevertheless entertaining games on offer. 

One big headline was the departure of Sabri Lamouchi. We half-jokingly said he'd be sacked at the end of the tournament, as seems to be customary in Tunisia, but even given the Tunisian Federation binned off a manager right after a game in the AFCON in 2025, we didn't think they'd do it again this time round… after just one game.

The day’s highlights:

• Sabri Lamouchi will be enduring a long flight home after his tournament was cut short by an immediate sacking.

  
  

• Undoubtedly the story of the day was Cape Verde’s 0-0 draw against Spain. Their battling defensive performance was full of aggressive energy, and they tried to play out when they could. Hugely impressive against a side considered favourites by many.

  
  

• Egypt almost matched our prediction of beating Belgium, but a late own goal forced by Belgium’s Lukaku tied the scores at 1-1.

  
  

• Saudi Arabia and Uruguay played a tense match in sweltering conditions in Miami. Saudi Arabia seized the first half advantage and Uruguay couldn’t get level despite controlling possession in the second half. 

How were the games? What did we learn?

While the fixtures look like they played out in perhaps a slightly more low-key manner this time round, that would be misleading. While goals may have been hard to come by today, chances certainly were not - and that was a defining feature of two games in particular (Spain v Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia v Uruguay, where defenses came out on top on both occasions). 

***

Spain v Cape Verde

What a masterclass by Cape Verde, and especially 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha. His social media following has exploded by over 6000% since his heroics in this game, but while he made an incredible series of saves, it would be unfair to ignore the contribution of the Cape Verde defence, and the way their manager, Bubista, set up the side. 

Analysing the game on ITV, Ange Postecoglou and Emma Hayes made the same observation before the game: that Spain may be frustrated if Cape Verde can play an aggressively defensive back-six and look to deny space while also playing out when able through out balls. 

They managed it perfectly, looking comfortable on the ball and at the end almost snatching a win through a header. 

One of the great all-time World Cup goalkeeper and defence performances, and from what I saw of Cape Verde this is not likely to be a flash in the pan. There’s every chance they’ll be able to extract a similar result or better from another team in this group. 

***

Belgium v Egypt

I’ll start with the conclusion: Egypt probably should have won this game. Belgium were off the boil for large portions of the game, but Egypt looked incredibly sharp. 

Mo Salah and Emam Ashour combined devastatingly as Ashour unleashed a fierce shot early in the game to put Egypt ahead. Belgium looked flustered, and perhaps a little lacking in some of the creative zest you’d expect from them. Doku in particular had a fairly poor game. 

But it was heartbreak for Egypt later in the game as Romelu Lukaku - described as “out of shape” by his manager - barelled into the box and inserted himself between the Egypt centre-backs to cause absolute chaos within 22 seconds of coming on. 

He claimed the goal, but it went down as a forced error coming off the boot of Egypt’s Mohamed Hany, and will enter the record books as an own goal. 

***

Saudi Arabia v Uruguay

Saudi Arabia ground out a very creditable draw against a surprisingly lacklustre Uruguay in Miami. In a game in the sweltering heat, Uruguay didn’t really get going and turned in a tactically disjointed and weak first half performance. 

Perhaps surprised a little by Saudi Arabia’s resilience, Bielsa didn’t look like he’d really set up Uruguay to exploit the centre of the pitch, and it took a set of instructions at the HT break for us to see the real Uruguay. 

By then, some of the damage had already been done. Abdulelah Al Amri scored in the 41st minute. A Saudi set-piece was parried by Uruguay’s keeper, but Al Amri was there to pounce and give them a one goal advantage.

In the second half, it was all Uruguay as Saudi Arabia sat back and defended in earnest. 

Uruguay had several chances after that. Vinas missed with a header past the post, before a long-range strike from Ugarte cannoned back off the upright. 

Vinas had another chance not long after that, his header dropped by Owais and Araujo pounced on the loose ball to end Saudi Arabia’s hopes of coming out of this one with a win. 

The Green Falcons did hang on for a point though, with a draw probably being the right result on balance, largely due to Uruguay’s disappointing first half display.

***

Iran v New Zealand

Possibly one of the games of the tournament so far.

Despite the political backdrop, and the logistical challenges Iran have faced in the run up to this game, they still occupy a significantly higher berth in the World Rankings than New Zealand, and so started this one as favourites.  

So the early patterns of play proved, with balls fired into the left channel by Iran being picked up to get in behind the New Zealand full backs. But then, seemingly against the run of play, Chris Wood held the ball up magnificently from a central ball, teeing up Motherwell’s Elijah Just for an excellent finish into the roof of the net in the 8th minute.

Wood seemingly was offered unlimited space, as his physical aura alone seemed to repel Iranian challenges. Spoiler: that would become a pattern throughout this game.

The goal deflated Iran's momentum and provided something of a blueprint for New Zealand to try to exploit again as they used Wood as a focal point in wide areas or centrally in equal measure. Wood found himself unmarked in the box in the 14th minute but couldn’t spin in time or connect well enough to find a finish.

Iran almost equalised through Taremi in the 22nd minute, rattling the post after a break from deep. So close to a leveller. 

As an aside, using the BBC’s 3D match viewer is quite amusing in first person mode during hydration breaks. Here’s Taremi’s view, which I'm preserving for future posterity.

Iran found new impetus after that break, and made several incursions into the NZ half.

They found a breakthrough of their own in the 32st minute through Rezaeian, who gambled on a loose ball in the box after a well-worked combination. 1-1.

Iran almost grabbed a second just before half time after a bullet of a long throw was flicked just over the crossbar, and minutes later had another attempt in the back of the net but ruled out for a clear offside from a header.

But it was advantage New Zealand soon after the break, as Elijah Just once again linked up with Chris Wood in the 54th minute, with a sublime give and go after New Zealand won the ball back on the press. 2-1.

No sooner was that done than Iran managed to finally connect with a header in an onside position. Mohebi found the perfect touch to power one inside of the post from a sublime ball from Rezaeian.

What a game.

Bring on day six!