Matchday 5 delivered the kind of shock this World Cup keeps serving up: Cape Verde held Spain to a 0-0 draw in their first-ever appearance at the tournament. In Group G, Belgium needed a late response against Egypt, while Uruguay salvaged a draw against Saudi
Cape Verde didn’t just stay standing against Spain on Matchday 5 — they made the whole match feel like a dare.
In Group H, Spain and Cape Verde finished level at 0-0. It was Cape Verde’s first game at the World Cup. and their first World Cup goal-line moment of resistance came as Spain’s attacks kept coming and coming. The European champions never cracked them. even after coach Bubista tried not to single anyone out for praise after the final whistle.
The consensus hero was 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha. whose tears at the end of the game carried the weight of more than one result. He explained that his grandparents — the people who essentially raised him — had passed away before they could see this crowning achievement. He also said his mother couldn’t travel to the United States because of the onerous cost of a visa from Cape Verde.
Spain, for their part, offered their own kind of storyline. There’s no getting away from the decision to leave Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams on the bench. Both eventually came on, but it did no good. Even with those changes. the draw still felt like something that shouldn’t have happened — especially given the gulf in reputation and ranking coming into the match.
Matchday 5 results underscored how many turns like this the tournament is capable of:
Group H: Spain 0-0 Cape Verde.
Group G: Belgium 1-1 Egypt.
Uruguay drew 1-1 with Saudi Arabia after coming from behind — a late goal from Maxi Araujo salvaged the point.
Iran also refused to let momentum settle, coming from behind twice to earn a 2-2 draw with New Zealand.
The tone of Group G, in particular, was set by how quickly some teams are punished for assuming anything is guaranteed.
Romelu Lukaku made an immediate impact for Belgium by forcing an equaliser after Belgium spent much of the game in Seattle trailing to Egypt. In another corner of the bracket. the pattern was similar: teams that needed a moment to swing the game were getting it — even when they looked like they were going to lose control.
The day’s shocks weren’t limited to one match. The World Cup’s momentum has been hard to predict, and it has turned the fan experience into something closer to uncertainty than certainty — the kind of place where even the most confident bet can unravel.
The strangest detail came from a single wager tied to Spain: a Polymarket speculator reportedly put $1million on Spain to beat Cape Verde in Atlanta. aiming — in the story’s telling — for a free $85. 000. The upset made that scenario feel absurd in hindsight. and it matched the larger mood of Matchday 5: results that refuse to behave.
What made it worse for anyone trying to read the tournament through conventional form was how many “normal” assumptions were knocked sideways.
When Uruguay faced Saudi Arabia. Uruguay pressed for a winner until the last. nearly got it a few times. and still didn’t take the victory. The same theme sits across South America’s start to the tournament: Brazil drew with Morocco and was generally underwhelming. Ecuador’s famously strong defence was eventually breached by Amad as it lost to Ivory Coast. and Paraguay was outclassed by the USA — taken to the cleaners by Christian Pulisic and Folarin Balogun. among others.
Not only have the four sides not won a game yet between them, but they haven’t held the lead yet. That collective start represents their worst collective beginning to a World Cup since 1974.
The pieces don’t fit neatly into one answer yet. What’s gone wrong for the South American sides isn’t clear enough to define after only one day of games. But the questions were laid out as plainly as the scorelines: have South America’s teams fallen behind the rest of the world. or is the quality levelling out across the tournament?. There isn’t a full picture until all six South American sides have played — and maybe not until the end of the group stage.
For now, Tuesday offers the next test of whether the doubt is justified.
Iran shouldn’t stand a chance at a World Cup, yet it persists.
There is a hard-to-ignore element behind Iran’s resilience: their domestic league. the Persian Gulf Pro League. was effectively suspended in February because of the war. That meant 17 members of Iran’s squad. and six of those who started their opening game against New Zealand. hadn’t played competitive games for four months. The piece puts it bluntly: four months is too long to go without meaningful action.
Training and preparation weren’t disrupted in only one way. Iran were forced to move their training base to Mexico, and a number of backroom staff were denied visas. The article frames it as more than logistics, pointing to the stress of playing in a country at war with their own.
Captain Mehdi Taremi summed it up after the draw with New Zealand: “It’s a bad situation, and we’re just tired,” he said. “Actually everything is a disaster for us.”
And yet, Iran are still there — coming from behind twice to draw New Zealand at 2-2. On paper. the contrast is stark: Iran were ranked 23rd in the world and ended up drawing with the side ranked 82nd. The argument made alongside those numbers is that Iran shouldn’t stand a chance given the circumstances they were forced to endure — and still they fought for a point that could prove crucial in securing a place in the knockout rounds for the first time.
That’s the kind of performance that doesn’t just change a group table. It changes what people expect next.
Tuesday’s games bring that sense of unpredictability into focus.
France make their first appearance at this World Cup after reaching the final of the last two tournaments. They face Senegal, the same team that shocked defending champions France in 2002 and set in train a dreadful campaign that ended with France knocked out in the group stages.
Norway, with Erling Haaland, make its first appearance at a World Cup since 1998. The matchup is set against Iraq, itself ending a long dry spell after not reaching this stage since 1986.
Then Argentina start their defence with Messi and pals opening up against Algeria. Four years ago, France broke the run of reigning champions crashing out in the first round. The schedule now asks whether Argentina’s squad — described as not massively different from the one that succeeded in Qatar — can keep control of their own story.
Finally, the third of the first-timers arrives with Jordan playing Austria in Santa Clara. The debutant record has been mixed: Curacao went down 7-1 to Germany, while Cape Verde achieved what it did against Spain.
Matchday 6 fixtures are set:
Group I: France vs Senegal, 3pm ET (8pm BST).
Group I: Iraq vs Norway, 6pm ET (11pm BST).
Group J: Argentina vs Algeria, 9pm ET (2am BST).
Group J: Austria vs Jordan, 12am ET (5am BST).
By the time the next set of kick-offs begins, the tournament’s message won’t be theoretical anymore. It will be in the groups. It will be in the tears of a goalkeeper named Vozinha. And it will be in the uncomfortable fact that when Cape Verde can hold Spain to 0-0 in their first-ever appearance. “inevitable” stops being a word anyone should use too quickly.
World Cup 2026 Cape Verde vs Spain Spain draw Group H Group G Belgium vs Egypt Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia Iran vs New Zealand Vozinha tears Mehdi Taremi quote Iraq vs Norway Argentina vs Algeria