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Key events
Spain 0-0 Cape Verde: Sid Lowe’s opening words of his match report from the Atlanta Stadium were “Wow, just wow” and that somehow feels like an understatement. After all, the European champions Spain were held to a shock 0-0 draw by tiny World Cup debutants Cape Verde.
Spain, regarded as one of the strong pre-tournament favourites, had been expected to cruise past Cape Verde in their Group H opener but despite enjoying 74% possession and laying siege to the Cape Verde goal, the 2010 world champions were unable to find a breakthrough against the underdogs from the volcanic archipelago of just 525,000 people. Not even the introduction off the bench of Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal could engineer a goal for Luis de la Fuente’s men.
When the final whistle blew, Cape Verde’s players and supporters celebrated wildly after securing an improbable point in their first ever World Cup match. “The dream came true,” the goalkeeper Vozinha told reporters. “We competed against Spain, one of the best teams in the world. We are very happy and proud of all the players and people of Cape Verde.”
Meanwhile, the Spain head coach, De la Fuente, insisted there was no reason to hit the panic button – and still confidently backed his squad to reach the final. “We are completely calm, convinced that there is a long way to go. As we see it, we have seven games left,” he said.
Tunisia replace sacked Lamouchi with Renard
Tunisia have sacked the head coach Sabri Lamouchi and replaced him with fellow Frenchman Hervé Renard in after their 5-1 defeat by Sweden in their World Cup opener in Monterrey.
Lamouchi, the first coaching casualty of the tournament, was appointed in January on a contract until 2028. He leaves the post with matches to come against Japan and the Netherlands.
Tunisia won just one of their five games under Lamouchi, beating Haiti 1-0 in March, while losing 1-0 to Austria and being thrashed 5-0 by Belgium in a pair of World Cup warm-up matches this month.
The Tunisian Football Federation (FTF) said Renard would take charge until the end of Tunisia’s World Cup campaign. “The agreement also stipulates that negotiations will be opened after the World Cup campaign to consider a long-term partnership based on specific sporting objectives,” their statement said.
The country’s state-owned broadcaster Television Tunisienne reported that Renard would arrive in Monterrey later on Tuesday to link up with the squad.
Renard, twice an Africa Cup of Nations winner, coached Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and led them to a famous victory over eventual champions Argentina in the group stage. He left to coach the French women’s team at the World Cup in 2023 and the Paris Olympics, before returning to Saudi Arabia and helping the men’s side qualify for a third successive World Cup. He was then replaced by Georgios Donis in the buildup to the tournament.
Iran 2-2 New Zealand: It was a heavy match for Iran’s players as they played out a 2-2 draw against New Zealand after a backdrop of strife in the buildup to their tournament. After the match, the Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei hit out at Fifa and hinted at resentment toward the US government after being told they needed to leave Los Angeles immediately.
We’ve spent so much time commuting in the air. They didn’t even give us time to recover after the game today. They said we had to leave immediately. It’s very important for us to have time for recovery and yet we were asked to return to Tijuana and we are really troubled by that.
We do not know why they are returning us. I think it’s very strange. It seems like others are doing the planning for us, decisions are made elsewhere, we were supposed to arrive two nights before the game and we were not permitted, we were supposed to stay tonight and return tomorrow lunchtime but I have no idea why, and they haven’t told us.
Our team is the most oppressed one in the whole World Cup. The federation is absent here. Our media isn’t here. Our management team, many of them aren’t here. We used to have a part of a coaching team to help with substitutions but we didn’t have that. Many in the technical area had to deal with that.
The Iran captain Mehdi Taremi described their treatment as a “disaster” and revealed the Fifa president Gianni Infantino had been in the dressing room, offering to “help” the team. Footage of Infantino published on X sees him telling the players “you are stronger than everything” adding that the team were “writing history, the whole world is watching you”.
Infantino is also understood to have told the players he would do what he could to ensure more of the Iranian delegation, who did not receive visas, could travel to the USA for their remaining group games.
Preamble
We are officially 2/3 of the way through the first group games of the 2026 World Cup. How are we feeling? Excited, thrilled, enjoying the football? Tired, overwhelmed, exhausted? All of the above? Wherever you fall, strap in because there is so, so much to get to.
Reaction from Spain 0-0 Cape Verde, Belgium 1-1 Egypt, Saudi Arabia 1-1 Uruguay and Iran 2-2 New Zealand (you get a draw, you get a draw, everyone gets a draw) before looking ahead to France v Senegal, Iraq v Norway, Argentina v Algeria and Austria v Jordan. How will our 2022 finalists fare? How about the African champions (or are they?) Or the fresh faces from Asia? This World Cup has already had a few surprises and, given the sheer number of games, I expect more to come.
Have any thoughts on the performances we have seen? Or on what is to come? What is your World Cup setup? Are you watching from home or did you manage to nab tickets? Let me know along with any predictions, questions, comments or complaints via email.
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