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In the earliest match on June 27th at 2 AM, France faced Norway with the goal of securing first place in Group I. Contrary to fans' expectations of a fiery encounter, "Les Bleus" had little difficulty defeating the Nordic representatives with a 4-1 victory. Notably, Ousmane Dembele scored a hat-trick. |
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With coach Stale Solbakken deciding to make 10 substitutions in the match against France, the hope of seeing Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland go head-to-head did not materialize. The Manchester City striker was only on the bench. |
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In the other match of Group I played at the same time, after a difficult first 45 minutes despite playing with a man advantage from the 13th minute following Rebin Sulaka's red card, Senegal scored four consecutive goals in the second half to defeat Iraq 5-0 . This result puts Pape Thiaw's team among the best-performing third-placed teams. |
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In the Group H match at 7 AM, Spain defeated Uruguay with a narrow 1-0 victory. This result allowed Luis de la Fuente's team to advance as Group H winners. Conversely, the South American representatives were left the tournament with utter disappointment. Marcelo Bielsa's team only managed to secure 2 points after three matches. |
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The best moment of June 27th belonged to Cape Verde. In their first World Cup appearance, this small team caused a major surprise by qualifying for the round of 32. In the match played at 7 am, Butista's team drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia, completing the group stage undefeated (3 draws). |
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With Uruguay suffering a narrow 1-0 defeat to Spain, Cape Verde automatically secured second place in Group H. This makes them one of the smallest nations in history to advance beyond the World Cup group stage. |
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In stark contrast to the emotional bliss for Cape Verde was the utter disappointment for Saudi Arabia. Despite creating a few chances in the match, the Asian team failed to capitalize and were eliminated from the tournament along with Uruguay. Georgios Donis's team finished last in Group H with only 2 points. |
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In the matches played at 10:00 AM, Iran nearly pulled off an upset in Group G against Egypt. In the 90+3rd minute, Shoja Khalilzadeh scored, but VAR disallowed the goal due to a rare offside call as the opposing goalkeeper had advanced. The disallowed goal resulted in a 1-1 draw for the Asian representatives, causing them to drop to third place. |
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Shoja Khalilzadeh's "fateful half-foot" left the players on the field divided in joy and sorrow after the final whistle. The 1-1 draw was enough for Egypt to advance as runners-up in Group G, while Iran will have to wait to find out whether the Asian representatives will also qualify. |
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In the other match in Group G, despite facing some difficulties in the first 45 minutes, Belgium easily defeated New Zealand 5-1 thanks to their superior squad quality. This result secured their place in the next round as group winners under Rudi Garcia. |
Source: https://znews.vn/khoanh-khac-world-cup-phep-la-cape-verde-post1663679.html
