Group HFull time
Final · Jun 26NRG Stadium, Houston
The market saw itPolymarket
The stakes
Full time: Saudi Arabia 0-0 Cape Verde — a Group H result now baked into the table.
- storylineCape Verde — the half-million-person miracleHeld Spain to a stunning 0-0 (June 15). Spain had ~27 shots; 40-year-old keeper Vozinha and a wall of bodies kept the clean sheet. Cape Verde became just the 7th team ever to avoid defeat on its World Cup debut. Coach: 'It means everything for our country.'
The two sides
Saudi ArabiaThe team that once beat Messi
The upset specialists whose whole identity is beating Messi’s Argentina in 2022 — and the man who scored it is still here. Next up: Spain, and the upset they have been promising to repeat.
Cape VerdeTiny island nation on its first World Cup
Five hundred thousand people, a first-ever World Cup, a 40-year-old second-division keeper crying at full time — and they held mighty Spain to 0-0. This is the exact fairytale the World Cup exists to produce.
Who plays where
Saudi Arabia
- Al-Hilal ×2Salem Al-Dawsari, Mohammed Al-Owais
- Al-AhliFiras Al-Buraikan
- Al-NassrAbdulelah Al-Amri
- LensSaud Abdulhamid
Cape Verde
- ChavesVozinha (Josimar Évora Dias)
- Estrela AmadoraJovane Cabral
- Iğdır FKRyan Mendes
- VillarrealLogan Costa