Cape Verde are the main characters now

We all spent the first half of Cape Verde vs. Spain saying “this is really impressive defending, too bad Spain are going to win comfortably in the end.” Well well well!

Cape Verde keep favourites Spain out on World Cup debut

This has to go down as one of the most surprising results in World Cup history.

Yes, Spain fielded a somewhat rotated lineup and weren’t at their best, but this from Cape Verde was an all-timer defensive performance as they successfully contained the outright tournament favourites for the vast majority of the match.

The Blue Sharks produced a masterclass in their 4-5-1 block by locking down the centre and using up to two midfielders for support on the wings. Spain often probed down the right by going out wide to Ferran Torres and looking for a runner infield, but Cape Verde’s exceptionally well-drilled defending rendered this an ineffective avenue.

Luis de la Fuente’s side did probe through different routes, finding some joy soon after the first half’s hydration break as Pedri started to pick up the ball in central pockets and fed some of Cucurella’s forward runs into the box. However, Cape Verde shut this down after half-time, using striker Dailon Livramento to keep pressure on Spain’s centralmost midfielder and limit their time on the ball in dangerous areas (as in the above snapshot).

In fact, the best of La Roja’s chances came when they lulled Cape Verde into a false sense of security in deep build-up before springing to generate high turnovers, which presented the only real opportunities to attack an unorganised defence. However, they weren’t too clinical in such situations and couldn’t even generate many clear-cut opportunities.

Of course, Spain eventually turned to the big guns as Lamine Yamal came on for the last 20 minutes alongside Mikel Merino, while Dani Olmo and Nico Williams were also introduced later. The Barcelona superstar particularly inspired some fear in the minnows’ defence, but they did an excellent job of always doubling up on him to limit his threat.

Cape Verde even got a couple of promising counterattacks at the very end, registering their only shot on target in stoppage time from their only corner. The shock would truly be seismic had that gone in, but even a point on debut against Spain is a sensational result. —NS

Blue Sharks keep winning during Uruguay vs. Saudi Arabia

Cape Verde are now very much the main characters of Group H, and will be loving their chances of getting out of the group after watching both Uruguay and Saudi Arabia put together a rather mediocre showing. The Saudis scored their one huge chance early, then proceeded to sit on their lead. Uruguay put up a high volume of shots, but looked fairly inept in attack while fielding a no-passers midfield.

A draw felt like a very fair result from one of the least enjoyable and lowest quality games of the tournament so far.

But it was a great game if you’re rooting for the Blue Sharks. It seems rather obvious to say “if you can get a point against Spain, you can get one against Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.” But on the evidence of this game, neither of these teams is significantly better than Cape Verde. —KM

Egypt’s search for their long awaited first World Cup win continues

For over 90 years, Egypt have been on the hunt for their first win in the World Cup. Only Bolivia have had a longer wait, with their first appearance in 1930 versus 1934 for Egypt. Meanwhile, they were going up against a Belgium side who, while having mostly transitioned away from their golden generation, still were thought of as one of the 10 or so best teams in the tournament.

Yet for about an hour of game time, it looked like Egypt would finally get their first win and truly shake up group G. Before the opening goal, the first 19 minutes were a cagey affair, which played into Egypt’s hands. Belgium weren’t a threat with the ball, only generating two shots from outside the box. The lack of a true striker allowed Egypt to be opportunistic with their jumps even while defending in their own half, as Charles De Ketelaere got the start up top.

Egypt ended up breaking the deadlock through a combination of an incisive pass from Mohamed Salah (who had a solid performance as their #10) towards the penalty arc, and clever off ball movement by Emam Ashour. The latter was able to play on the blindside of Thomas Meunier, and utilized a double movement to find himself in space. A quality first touch allowed Ashour to get a proper strike on the shot, which he did to beat Thibaut Courtois.

The remainder of the first half saw more resolute defending by Egypt, while Belgium continued to suffer from not being able to stretch Egypt’s defensive block. There were opportunities to extend the lead early in the 2nd half through semi-transition opportunities, with two consecutive shots being blocked in the box from Omar Marmoush and Mostafa Ziko. Kevin De Bruyne nearly equalized immediately afterwards in the 52nd minute when he hit the post on a delightful free-kick attempt. Egypt continued to manufacture decent chances during non-settled possessions, and it was one of those stretches of play where not putting the game out of reach could lead to disappointment later on.

Romelu Lukaku’s inclusion into the match for De Ketelaere immediately led to the equalizer, and while it ended up being credited as an own goal, Lukaku made the kind of dash towards the six yard box you see from a proper #9. The rest of the match saw some half chances from Belgium, including a brilliant save by Mostafa Ahmed Shobeir on a header from Brandon Mechele. A draw ended up being a fair reflection of the match, one which asked further questions about Belgium’s chances in the tournament, while Egypt’s next chance at finally winning a World Cup match will be versus New Zealand. —MM

New Zealand and Iran put on a show

These teams both entered their match knowing that they would be underdogs in their following two group stage contests, and might need a victory in this one to have a good chance of advancing. The result was a high octane contest where both teams traded punches, and both had big chances to win the game at the end.

Here’s the equalizer from the non-geoblocked account, but if this game was on past your bedtime, I highly recommend looking up the extended highlights for your region. And if no one in your region has the rights to extended highlights, you can VPN to the United States ones:

Unfortunately, as great as this game was to watch, it might end up being a painful result for both sides. Neither Belgium or Egypt looked at their best in their game, but I think there’s still a pretty significant talent gap from those sides to these two. Both New Zealand and Iran are going to struggle to get to 3 points in the group after failing to beat each other.

This was also a big breakout performance for New Zealand’s Elijah Just, who’s coming off a very good season playing mostly as a box-crashing 10/second striker for Motherwell.

He’s been linked to both Celtic and Rangers, but responded to questions about that by saying he doesn’t want to speak about that until after the World Cup. He might have teams from other countries checking out his Motherwell tape now. —KM

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