Four elite teams kick off Matchday 5 at the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup on Monday—Spain vs. Cape Verde in Atlanta, Belgium vs. Egypt in Seattle, Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia in Miami, and Iran vs. New Zealand in Los Angeles—while veteran and debuting nations chase t
For Matchday 5, the World Cup doesn’t ease into its story—it hits the pitch running.
Monday’s slate opens with Spain facing debutant Cape Verde in Atlanta. then swings north to Seattle for Belgium against Egypt. continues to Miami for Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia, and ends in Los Angeles with Iran taking on New Zealand. Four of these nations are carrying big expectations; two are still chasing the right to believe they can reach the knockout round for the first time.
Spain vs. Cape Verde sets the tone in Atlanta at 12 p.m. ET. with Spain playing on home momentum after topping UEFA Group E over Türkiye. Bulgaria. and Georgia without losing a game. Reigning European champion Spain then moves into Monday’s match with a recent track record of winning trophies—Euro 2024 came with knockout wins over Italy. Switzerland. and the Netherlands. and a final victory over England.
Cape Verde’s arrival could hardly be more dramatic for a first-ever World Cup game. Off the northwest coast of Africa. the small island nation has a population of just over 500. 000. and it qualified by convincingly winning its group in the CAF qualifying tournament. In that campaign it went 7-4-1 and finished four points ahead of Cameroon. a run made more striking by the Blue Sharks missing out on the 2025 African Cup of Nations. where they finished last in their qualifying group.
Most of Cape Verde’s team plays in smaller European leagues. Fullback Sidny Lopes Cabral joined Benfica this year and has already featured for the club’s first team. Captain Ryan Mendes is 36 and is Cape Verde’s most accomplished player. with 22 goals for the national team and club experience including Lille and Nottingham Forest.
The roster itself tells a wider story: only 12 of the players were born in Cape Verde. The other 14 were born in the Netherlands. Portugal. France. and the United States—backup goalkeeper CJ Dos Santos was born in Philadelphia. With an average age of 29.3, Cape Verde is among the older teams at the tournament.
They’re coached by Pedro Leitão Brito—known as Bubista—who has spent his entire coaching career in Cape Verde. After leading the team to World Cup qualification, Bubista was named the 2025 CAF Manager of the Year.
Spain is managed by Luis de la Fuente. who took over after Spain’s lackluster 2022 World Cup ended with a penalty shootout loss to Morocco in the round of 16. Monday’s game also features Spain’s usual firepower: Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams have been dealing with injuries. but both are expected to be ready.
Yamal is 18, ranked No. 1 in the Top 100 World Cup players list. and he finished as the Ballon d’Or runner-up in 2025 after leading Barcelona to the La Liga title. Spain’s midfield of Rodri. Pedri. and Fabián Ruiz is backed by an elite defensive run featuring five clean sheets in their last six competitive games.
One reason Monday could become a goal-heavy night for Spain comes down to striker selection. Mikel Oyarzabal is de la Fuente’s top striker for good reason: since the start of 2025. he has 12 goals in 12 games for Spain. In 2024, Oyarzabal scored Spain’s winning goal in its 2-1 victory over England in the final of Euro 2024.
Belgium vs. Egypt follows in Seattle at 3 p.m. ET, another match carrying a sense of renewal.
Belgium enters the World Cup ranked ninth in the FIFA World Rankings. hoping this tournament brings the arrival of a promising new generation. The Red Devils finished third in 2018, a peak moment for the previous golden crop. In 2022, the aging core stayed, but Belgium failed to get out of the group stage. Euro 2024 was a marginal improvement with a second-place group finish and an elimination by France in the first knockout round.
Kevin De Bruyne still has his place in the story. Belgium’s “old guard” includes Thibaut Courtois, De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku, and Axel Witsel—all on the 2014 team. Yet the match against Egypt is expected to be decided by younger talent, led by Jérémy Doku.
Doku is 2026’s reminder that Belgium’s future may already be on the move. The Manchester City winger is one of the most talented players at the World Cup. and his speed and dribbling are built to unsettle any defense. Doku is Antwerp-born and is 24. and he was influential in World Cup qualifiers this cycle with two goals apiece in wins over Kazakhstan and Liechtenstein. At Euro 2024, Belgium only played four games, but Doku completed a tournament-leading 34 dribbles.
Belgium qualified in undefeated fashion under French head coach Rudi Garcia, who has led the team since 2025. Belgium won UEFA Group J over Wales, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, and Liechtenstein.
The hype from friendlies has been hard to ignore. Belgium defeated the United States 5-2 in March, then followed with wins over Croatia 2-0 and Tunisia 5-0 in its two tune-up matches.
Egypt arrives in Seattle ranked 29th, returning to the World Cup for the fourth time after missing out in 2022. The Pharaohs have never advanced out of the group stage. but they’re favored to do so in the 48-team format. and they begin Monday at 3 p.m. ET with a coach closely tied to the national team’s history.
Hossam Hassan leads Egypt. Hassan is the Pharaoh’s all-time leading scorer. and he was part of a qualifying run that left Egypt unbeaten: an 8-2-0 record. 20-2 in goals for and against. and eight clean sheets. Earlier in the year at the African Cup of Nations, Egypt reached the semifinals before losing 1-0 to Senegal.
And for Egypt, the center of gravity is Mohamed Salah. He is 34 on this match day, and his qualifying production was decisive: Salah led Egypt with nine goals in qualifying. Egypt’s record is close enough to feel: Salah’s 67 international goals are just two behind Hassan’s record of 69.
Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia brings the stakes south in Miami at 6 p.m. ET, with La Celeste and the Green Falcons meeting in Group H action at Miami Stadium.
Uruguay comes in ranked No. 16 in the latest FIFA World Rankings and chasing its climb back into elite form. The two-time World Cup champions finished fourth in CONMEBOL’s single-table qualifying tournament. but the momentum arrived late: back-to-back wins over Brazil and Argentina set the tone. and Uruguay clinched its place with a 3-0 win over Peru in the second-to-last matchday.
After qualification, results have been mixed. Uruguay lost 5-1 to the United States in November but played respectably in draws to England and Algeria in March.
The team is led by Argentine head coach Marcelo Bielsa, coaching his third World Cup after leading Argentina in 2002 and Chile in 2010. Bielsa has built a Uruguay shaped by defensive structure as it moves on from the great attacking players such as Luis Suárez and Edinson Cavani.
The back line includes José Giménez of Atlético Madrid. expected to earn his 100th cap against Saudi Arabia. and Ronald Araújo. a Barcelona mainstay since 2019. Uruguay’s qualifying defense reflects the plan: it conceded 12 goals in 18 World Cup qualifiers. a number that should make opponents work for every chance.
Saudi Arabia enters as an underdog, ranked 61st by FIFA. The Green Falcons are participating in their third straight World Cup and seventh overall. Their group-stage track record is tough: the only time they advanced out of the group stage was at their debut in 1994. Still. one standout moment sits in the memory—at the 2022 World Cup. Saudi Arabia defeated eventual champions Argentina in the group stage opener.
This qualifying cycle included real disruption. After poor results in recent March friendlies, head coach Hervé Renard was fired and replaced by Georgios Donis of Greece. Donis has selected a roster where 25 of 26 players come from the domestic league of Saudi Arabia. with the lone exception being Lens fullback Saud Abdulhamid. The hope is familiarity—players already share the same rhythm.
That could make Saudi Arabia a wildcard in this group, and the matchday picture points to a race for third behind Uruguay and Spain—Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia both have reasons to believe a third-place finish could be enough to move on.
For Uruguay, the question has a name. The player to watch is Darwin Núñez, the former Liverpool forward now playing for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia. He’ll know much of what’s coming from Saudi opponents, but Uruguay’s focus is on his scoring responsibility.
Núñez led Uruguay in qualifying with five goals, but those goals all came in 2023. He has not scored in his last 13 appearances for Uruguay, dating back to the 2024 Copa América.
Finally, the night closes in Los Angeles at 9 p.m. ET with Iran vs. New Zealand in Group G, with both teams still chasing their first knockout-stage breakthrough.
This matchup brings together two nations that have played in multiple World Cups but never advanced out of the group stage. In the expanded 2026 format, a single win can still open the door, which makes this match critical for both teams.
New Zealand arrives as the lowest ranked team at 85. It’s their third World Cup and first since 2010. when they drew all three group stage games and failed to qualify for the knockouts. Their dependence on veteran leadership remains clear: Chris Wood is the team’s best player and captain. Wood is 34. with 90 caps and 45 goals for New Zealand. and he led the team with nine goals in World Cup qualifying.
In 2024/25, Wood scored 20 Premier League goals, but knee surgery limited him in 2025/26. He returned in April and scored twice in 11 games.
This time, New Zealand has more support in attack. Eli Just, 26, has provided an extra point of attack that wasn’t present in earlier campaigns. Just was a finalist for the Scottish Premiership’s player of the season for Motherwell after scoring seven goals and adding seven assists. For the national team. he was the second-leading scorer in World Cup qualifying with four goals. and he scored in a surprising 4-1 win over Chile in March.
Iran comes in ranked 20th and is at its fourth consecutive World Cup. yet it has never advanced out of the group stage. despite getting a win at each of the last two World Cups and then against the United States in 1998. Iran’s qualifying run was dominant: an unbeaten record of 10-4-0. As a country front and center of geopolitical tensions, the tournament will put a spotlight on how the players respond.
Head coach Amir Ghalenoei has led the team since 2023. He has opted for an experienced squad. On the 26-player roster, 14 were also on the 2022 World Cup team, 10 were on the 2018 team, and two players remain from the 2014 squad.
Iran’s recent tune-ups have been a lift for fans. The team swept both of its World Cup friendlies in Antalya, Türkiye. It first beat the Gambia 3-1, then followed with a 2-0 win against Mali. Fullback Ramin Rezaeian, 36, scored in both games.
The player to watch for New Zealand carries a story that stretches across continents. Tyler Bindon. a central defender who is 21. is signed to Nottingham Forest but spent the most recent season on loan at Sheffield United in the English Championship. Bindon scored two goals in World Cup qualifying and featured at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
His background is as complicated as it is personal. His mother. Jenny Bindon. was born and raised in the United States. obtained her New Zealand citizenship. and earned 77 appearances as the goalkeeper for New Zealand’s women’s national soccer team. His father, Grant Bindon, was the captain of New Zealand’s national volleyball team. His maternal grandfather served in the United States Army in the Vietnam War and was awarded two Purple Hearts.
Bindon is a dual citizen of New Zealand and the United States. He spent several seasons with the youth teams of Los Angeles FC and made five appearances with U.S. youth national teams before deciding to represent New Zealand on the global stage.
Now, he’s part of what New Zealand hopes is a new generation—built to chase the Kiwis’ first World Cup win and potentially force a place in the knockouts.
One thing connects Monday’s four matches: every team is trying to turn momentum into something lasting—whether that means Spain making its status feel inevitable. Belgium pushing through on Doku’s pace. Uruguay finding answers in Núñez’s form. or Iran and New Zealand proving they can finally break the group-stage ceiling.
2026 FIFA Men's World Cup Matchday 5 Spain vs Cape Verde Belgium vs Egypt Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia Iran vs New Zealand Lamine Yamal Jérémy Doku Mohamed Salah Marcelo Bielsa Darwin Núñez Chris Wood