The World Cup newcomers now have two points from two games and may just be positioning themselves to advance from the group
Jun 21, 2026
at
8:15 pm ET
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1 min read
Group H has been thrown into chaos as goalkeeping errors and absolute grit have led to Cabo Verde pulling another surprise, drawing Uruguay 2-2 on Saturday. The Blue Sharks were able to follow up their wildly shocking draw with Spain by scoring their first World Cup goals in their history and setting themselves up for a chance to advance with a victory over Saudi Arabia, but thanks to third-placed teams getting through, even a draw may be enough depending on Uruguay’s final-day result as Marcelo Bielsa’s men take on Spain.
The third smallest country to ever qualify for the World Cup and being placed in a group with Spain and Uruguay, few gave Cabo Verde a chance to advance out of their group, let alone do much of anything, but only 21 minutes into the match, midfielder Kevin Pina drove a seeing-eye free kick under Uruguayan keeper Fernando Muslera to give his side the lead.
While Uruguay struggled to put things together in the first half, Maxi Araujo scored one goal and assisted another right before halftime in a moment when it seemed like Cabo Verde’s charmed run would be coming to an end, but more keeper errors would give them a chance to equalize in the second half, as their physical style frustrated Uruguay. Substitute Helio Varela caught Muselera off his line to equalize after only being on the pitch for three minutes. It shows the depth that Bubista’s team has, as they’ve been able to hang around for 90-plus minutes in both of their matches to ensure that they’ll have a chance to get out of the group.
Ranked 16th in the FIFA rankings, this is beyond a disappointing showing for Uruguay, and they could end up being knocked out of World Cup contention. With results such as this and Curacao drawing Ecuador, despite the World Cup expanding to 48 teams, it’s clear that everyone came to play and any squad in the world can be stopped on any night.
