FIFA World Cup 2026 has provided the first surprise: Spain, considered by most as the main favourite for the cup, ahead of Argentina, France, England, or Germany (which broke the goal-scoring record for World Cup last night) has only managed a 0-0 in their debut against Cape Verde.
Cape Verde, the small African archipelago with less than half a million people, were making their debut in World Cup, benefitting for the expanded edition of 48 teams. Never before this national team, which occupies the 64th place in FIFA's ranking (Spain is currently third in the worldwide ranking, behind Argentina and France), had played in World Cup, and their debut is a historic draw that gives them one point in Group H.
Tonight, the other two teams in Group H, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay, play (at 00:00 CEST, 23:00 BST), and the winner will have a clear shot at qualifying for the next stage: everybody assumed Spain would be group leaders, but now anything can happen...
Next for Spain, they will face Saudi Arabia on Sunday June 21 at 18:00 CEST, and against Uruguay on Saturday, June 27 at 2:00 CEST, 1:00 BST.