On Monday, Groups G and H began their group play in the 2026 World Cup, ending in a strange result of four ties across all matches.
International soccer giants such as Spain and Belgium took the field, surprisingly struggling against lesser competition. On the other side, the later matches of Saudi Arabia vs. Uruguay and Iran vs. New Zealand finished in draws, leaving the groups open for anyone to win.
Spain, which is one of the odds-on favorites to win the 2026 World Cup, tied 0-0 with Cabo Verde, also known as Cape Verde, in the most shocking result of the young tournament so far. The confidence in Spain was so high that one Polymarket bettor lost $1 million in an attempt to profit only $80,000.
🚨BREAKING: Someone just put $1M on Spain to WIN their match vs Cape Verde today
This pays out is $1,085,943.48 on Polymarket pic.twitter.com/7ODo3dJ7Pl
— Polymarket Sports (@PolymarketSport) June 15, 2026
Cape Verde, the second-smallest country in the entire field by population, held its own against one of the most lethal teams in the world. Forty-year-old goalkeeper Josimar Dias, who goes by Vozinha, willed Cape Verde to the draw, finishing with seven saves in an all-time underdog performance.
Vozinha’s legendary performance gained him quite the following on social media, jumping from 45,000 followers to 4.3 million in less than 12 hours during and following his clean sheet against Spain. As of Tuesday afternoon, he is up to 8.2 million followers.
LOOK WHAT IT MEANS TO CAPE VERDE! 🇨🇻
40-year-old Vozinha and his teammates were emotional after stunning European giants Spain in a goalless draw pic.twitter.com/tyFAwkFOg7
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 15, 2026
On the other side of the age spectrum, Spain’s teenage phenom Lamine Yamal surprisingly came off the bench in the 71st minute in this affair. While Yamal was recovering from a recent injury, Spain’s head coach, Luis de la Fuente, recently said he was in “perfect condition.”
Spain and Cape Verde will receive one point for the draw, but more importantly for Spain, the team is now facing questions about its chances to win the World Cup.
Unlike Spain, Belgium did not have any million-dollar bets placed on it to beat Egypt, but the team did have to play from behind following a 19th-minute goal from Emam Ashour. Belgium’s equalizing goal came from its all-time leading scorer Romelu Lukaku just seconds after he was substituted into the game. Lukaku forced an own goal off Egypt’s Mohamed Hany in the 66th minute.
Saudi Arabia and Uruguay saw a late goal in each half from both sides. Abdulelah Al-Amri of Saudi Arabia scored in the 41st minute, which was followed nearly 40 minutes later by Maxi Araujo’s for Uruguay in the 80th minute.
The Iran-New Zealand match was more of a back-and-forth affair, but Elijah Just’s two goals for New Zealand in the 7th and 54th minutes ended the game in a tie. With continued conflict between the United States and Iran, Iran’s national team was forced to fly back to its training camp in Tijuana following the game — one of several serious safety measures the United States plans to take while Iran competes in this year’s tournament.
All eight teams received only one point and finished with a score differential of zero following the draw, leaving Groups G and H open for the taking.
On Tuesday, some of the other favorites to win this year’s tournament will have their first match of group play.
France will look to begin their revenge tour after losing to Argentina in the final of the 2022 World Cup when they take on Senegal. Erling Haaland and Norway go head-to-head against Iraq as they both look for a potential deep run in the tournament. Following that, Argentina and Lionel Messi will look to go back-to-back as they take on Algeria in their first game. Finally, Austria and Jordan will kick off at midnight ET to close out the day.
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