Cape Verde snatches second point from Uruguay in World Cup
Cape Verde continued their impressive start to their World Cup debut by forcing two-time champions Uruguay to a 2-2 draw on Sunday at Miami's Hard Rock Stadium in the second round of Group H of the North American World Cup.
Cape Verde opened the scoring through Kevin Pena (21) in their first goal of their first appearances in the finals, and Uruguay responded with goals from Maxi Araujo (44) and Agustín Canopbio (45+6), before Helio Varela equalised (61).
It was the second draw for both teams after Uruguay fell into the trap against Saudi Arabia (1-1), and Cape Verde held out against European champions Spain (0-0).
Uruguay and Cape Verde are tied in second place with two points, with a goal advantage for the former, two points behind leaders Spain, who beat last place Saudi Arabia 4-0 in Atalanta earlier today.
The result was in favor of Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia, who have the chance to qualify for the round of 32 if one of them wins their match in the third round in Houston on June 26, while Uruguay will meet Spain in a difficult summit on the same day in the Mexican city of Guadalajara.
Argentine coach Marcelo Bielsa made two changes to the squad that fell into the trap of a draw against Saudi Arabia, bringing in Juan Manuel Sanabria and Agustín Canopbio in place of Matias Vinya and Darwin Nunez.
Uruguay is an ineffective attack and control
Cape Verde coach Popista made three substitutions, bringing in Gary Rodriguez, Telmo Arcango and Gilson Benchimol in place of Laros Duarte, Giovanni Cabral and Dillon Liframento.
Uruguay were the better side from the start and pressed hard for scoring but they collided with an organised team that stood up to all attacks and launched rebounds through which they got a direct free-kick that Russian midfielder Krasnodar brilliantly showed to open the scoring.
Uruguay, who found themselves for the second time in a row, rushed in search of an equalizer and succeeded in their quest through Sporting Portuguese midfielder Araujo before taking the lead in first-half stoppage time with a goal by Brazilian striker Fluminense Canopbio, which Bielsa preferred over Saudi Al-Hilal striker Nunez.
Cape Verde managed to get back with the result in the second half through substitute Varela and from the first touch of the ball after entering in place of Gary Rodriguez.
Uruguay's first and most dangerous chance came in the 14th minute when Real Madrid captain Federico Valverde received a ball inside the area and curled it past the left post, and Cape Verde opened the scoring with a brilliant goal by Pena from a direct free-kick (21), Cape Verde's first goal in its second match in the World Cup.
Valverde fired a "fly" ball with his left from inside the area over the crossbar (28) and another from about 35 meters near the right post (34), and Uruguay managed to equalize when Valverde passed a cross in front of the goal that defender Sidney López Cabral tried to keep away with his header, but it bounced off the left post and set up for Araujo, who followed it up with a header inside the empty net (44).
Canopbio gave Uruguay the lead by taking advantage of Araujo's header from close range after a pass inside the area to Manuel Ugarte, who followed it to the left of goalkeeper Fosinha (45+6).
Cape Verde equalised when substitute Varela took advantage of a wrong ball by defender Matias Oliveira who tried to pass it to a teammate, who snatched it and evaded goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, who was out of the area, and followed the ball into the empty net (61).
Columbus Crew defender Stephen Moreira saved Cape Verde from two goals by saving a powerful shot from inside the area for substitute Brian Rodriguez and a header by Tottenham England striker Rodrigo Bentancur following a corner kick (86), and Valverde took a free-kick straight from the edge of the area just over the crossbar (90)
Draw settles Belgium vs Iran clash
The result of a negative draw decided the match between Belgium and Iran, on Sunday evening, within the competitions of the second round of Group G of the 2026 World Cup, in a result that kept the qualification calculations open and gave the Egyptian team the opportunity to be alone at the top of the group.
The match witnessed a goal scored by Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi in the 25th minute, but the referee canceled it after calculating an offside, so that the negative draw remained in control of the course of the match.
The Belgian national team suffered a blow in the 67th minute after the expulsion of its defender Nathan Ngoye, to complete the remaining minutes with ten players, but managed to keep its net until the final whistle.
With this draw, Belgium and Iran raised their score to two points, while Egypt has 4 points and New Zealand's balance was frozen at one point after the Egyptian team won 3-1 at dawn on Monday.