Not content with holding Spain to a goalless draw in their opening match, last night they also held two times World Cup winners Uruguay to a draw and not a goalless one either. An extraordinary Kevin Pina free-kick from the best part of 40 yards gave the tiny African nation the lead. It is true that it was helped by the two-man Uruguayan wall jumping out of the way of the shot rather than blocking it as they should have done but it was some strike. Uruguay did come back with two goals just before half-time to take a 2-1 lead. I was expecting that to be that but Cape Verde managed to conjure up an equaliser of their own after a shocking pass across his own penalty area from Martin Olivera was intercepted by Helio Varela who rounded the Uruguayan goalkeeper to slot into an empty net. Youngsters are (or at least were in my day) told never to pass across their own box but the pros do it all the time these days but that equaliser is why youngsters are told not to. Anyway, it all added to the fun, unless you are Uruguayan. Federico Valverde did have the ball in the back of the Cape Verde net late on but that was ruled out for offside. 2-2 the final score. The result leaves both sides on 2 points each from their respective draws. Cape Verde face Saudi Arabia in their final match in a “winner takes all” encounter, the winner almost certain to qualify, the loser almost certainly out. Uruguay will need to get something from their final match against Spain. On their first two showings, I don’t fancy their chances, not least watching the Spanish thrash Saudi Arabia 4-0 in the other match in Group H. It could have been a lot more.
Having wittered on a lot about Cape Verde I will keep my report on the Belgium v Iran match very short. One word in fact – dire! 0-0. Belgium struggling. De Bruyne still trying but past his best. Lukaku, the speed, touch and turning circle of an oil tanker. Iran, negative and could not even exert any pressure after Belgium went down to 10 men following the sending off of Nathan Ngoy with 30 minutes remaining. Yes, dire sums it up.
Overnight saw Egypt come from a goal down at the break to run out 3-1 winners against New Zealand. Mo Salah is coming off, probably, his worst season for Liverpool but he managed a goal and an assist last night as Egypt almost certainly booked their place in the Last 32. The Kiwis will need to beat Belgium in their final match to join them.
World Cup Prediction Competition 2026
After Belgium 0 Iran 0; Spain 4 Saudi Arabia 0; Uruguay 2 Cape Verde 2; New Zealand 1 Egypt 3
All these unexpected results play havoc with predicting. 11 people got Spain’s 4-0 spot on but that was the easy one. Elsewhere there was only a smattering of spot on results across the other 3 matches, indeed no-one predicted the Cape Verde draw, perhaps not too surprisingly. Honourable mentions today go to Kevin Dowling, Craig Stryker and Mark Lander for all correctly predicting the thriller 0-0 that was Belgium v Iran. A deserved 9 points. Honourable mentions to anyone who stuck that match out until the end. You know who you are. Give yourselves a pat on the back!
Overall, Peter Sarfas remains top with 139 points ahead of Alan Dadswell in second on 135. Jamie Faulkner and Peter Sage are joint 3rd on 133, Adam Wootton 5th on 131, Simon Freeland and Dean Russell joint 7th on 126 with Ian Clapinson and Gordon Sarfas joint 8th on 124. Again, very close behind those top places so do not despair. The bonus competitions are also chugging along in the background, details of which are on my daily emails.
PLEASE INVITE ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN TAKING PART.
