Dream run continues for Cape Verde
Spain's Alex Baena, left, is congratulated after scoring his side's opening goal by Rodri during the World Cup Group H soccer match between Uruguay and Spain in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico, Friday. (AP Photo)
HOUSTON (AP) — Tiny Cape Verde defied odds to become the smallest country to earn a spot in the World Cup knockout round behind the stellar play of Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who embodied the grit of his nation. “We are small,” he said. “But we have big hearts and we are fighters.” Cape Verde completed an improbable run through the group stage with a third straight World Cup draw, a 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia on Friday night to advance in the tournament. The small island nation off the western coast of Africa, which is making its debut on soccer’s grandest stage, already held 2010 champion Spain to a 0-0 draw and then came from behind to get a 2-2 result against Uruguay. “The team was very eager to show this to the whole world,” Cape Verde coach Bubista said while draped in his country’s flag. “We are proud of having arrived at this stage. We have shown that we are a small country, but that we fight for the things that we want to achieve.” Cape Verde’s three points put the team in second place behind Spain, which beat Uruguay on Friday night and won the group. Cape Verde will play reigning World Cup champion Argentina in Miami on July 3. SPAIN 1, URUGUAY 0 GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — Spain defeated Uruguay 1-0 after another goalkeeping mistake by Fernando Muslera, advancing to the knockout stage of the World Cup and eliminating the South American powerhouse on Friday. Uruguay, a two-time champion, will go home without any victories in its three Group H games. Spain, the European champion, won the group with seven points and will face the second-place team from Group J — either Austria or Algeria — on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Álex Baena scored in the 42nd minute after Muslera couldn’t fully swat away his shot from inside the area. It was the third blunder of the tournament by the 40-year-old Muslera, who asked coach Marcelo Bielsa to substitute him at halftime. Sergio Rochet came in to start the second half. “He is the one who decided to leave,” Bielsa said. The veteran Argentine coach said he feels like Uruguay deserved better luck considering its performances, and should have earned seven points instead of two from its group matches. But he took full responsibility for the team’s failure. “No one wants to listen to explanations now,” Bielsa said. “The blame is on me, I’m the one responsible for the disappointing work that I did. I had a group of quality players.” At 19th in the FIFA rankings, Uruguay is the highest-ranked team to be eliminated so far. “Every match is different and you have to win every type of match,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said. “This was a game with maximum difficulty.” De la Fuente said midfielder Yéremy Pino likely suffered a broken collarbone that would sideline him for the rest of the tournament. Pino, who entered the match in the 66th minute, stayed on until the end despite the injury because Spain had already made all five substitutions. Cape Verde, which played Saudi Arabia to a 0-0 draw in the other group game on Friday, finished second in the group with three points, one more than both Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Uruguay finished third but without enough points to be among the best eight third-place teams that will advance. FRANCE 4, NORWAY 1 FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Not so fast, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé. Ousmane Dembélé has just entered the Golden Boot race. Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off a feed from Mbappé, to help France beat Norway 4-1 at the World Cup on Friday. Dembélé’s goals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was the first first-half hat trick at the World Cup since Russia forward Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States. “It is a unique moment,” Dembélé said. “But the most important was to finish first of the group in the group stage, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important.” France, which won the World Cup in 2018 and lost in the final four years ago, had already secured its place in the knockout round before Friday’s match. Norway was also assured of a spot in the round of 32 and ended up in second place in the group. Désiré Doué scored France’s final goal in second-half injury time. Dembélé said changing their approach in the final group match was never a consideration. France has 10 goals through three games. “We want to win all our matches, but we remain focused,” Dembélé said. The fastest World Cup hat trick took only 7 minutes, 42 seconds. Hungary striker Laszlo Kiss, who had come on as a substitute, managed that feat late in the match against El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. The quickest World Cup hat trick from the start of the match occurred at the 1954 tournament in Switzerland when Austria striker Erich Probst scored his three goals in the opening 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia. Dembélé, who won Ballon d’Or as Europe’s top player in 2025 and has now scored four goals at this year’s World Cup, left the game in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Bradley Barcola. Thelo Aasgaard got Norway on the scoreboard after Dembélé’s second goal, finding the back of the net only 14 seconds after the restart. But Dembélé added his third goal less than nine minutes later to push the lead back to two. Dembélé increased his international goal total to eight while Mbappe now has 16 goals and four assists in 17 World Cup matches. He scored two goals in each of France’s wins over Senegal and Iraq. BELGIUM 5, NEW ZEALAND 1 VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — With a flurry of of goals, Belgium finally found its footing at the World Cup. Leandro Trossard scored a pair of goals and Belgium overcame a slow start in the tournament to advance to the knockout round atop Group G with a 5-1 victory over New Zealand on Friday night. Belgium will face an as-yet undetermined third-place finisher on Wednesday in Seattle. The match was played simultaneously to the other group finale in Seattle between Egypt and Iran, which ended in a 1-1 draw, dropping Egypt out of first. The Belgians went into the match a surprising third in its group after opening the World Cup with a 1-1 draw against Egypt and a scoreless draw against Iran. “I think we had the chances as well in the first two games, and we didn’t take them. So it’s important that we took them today,” Trossard said. “And it’s always nice to score a lot of goals, and we’re just really happy to go through in first place as well, and yeah, a lot of joy.” Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Saelemaekers also scored for the Belgians, who were eliminated in the group stage in Qatar four years ago after finishing third at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. SENEGAL 5, IRAQ 0 TORONTO (AP) — Senegal needed to win and it needed to win big. Done and done. Senegal racked up the goals on a 10-man Iraq in a 5-0 victory Friday that helped advance it to the World Cup knockout stages. “The job is done, but fate is no longer in our hands,” Senegal coach Pape Thiaw said. “We have to wait until the other matches are over.” Later in the day, it was no worries. The dominant win paid off as Senegal made it through to the next round by virtue of Iran’s 1-1 draw with Egypt in Seattle. Senegal’s opponent in the next round has not been determined. Pape Gueye scored twice in a second-half flurry as the Senegalese — vying to advance from third place in Group I — took advantage of a first-half red card on Iraq defender Rebin Sulaka, who prevented Sadio Mane from going in on goal alone by yanking his shirt. Habib Diarra scored in the fourth minute and even though Sulaka was sent off in the 13th, Senegal didn’t find the net again until Ismaila Sarr’s goal in the 56th minute. Gueye then added his two goals, both hard blasts from around the edge of the penalty area, and Iliman Ndiaye netted Senegal’s fifth. Senegal finished the group with three points and a plus-two goal differential. The eight best third-place teams advance to the Round of 32. EGYPT 1, IRAN 1 SEATTLE (AP) — An Iranian fan rushed the field in celebration, necessitating seven security guards to successfully bring him down. Shoja Khalilzadeh ripped his jersey off before being mobbed by the entire Iran team after he fired a shot past Egypt goalie Mostafa Shobeir in the 93rd minute to seemingly give his side a 2-1 lead on Friday night. For a few joyous moments, Iran was convinced it had advanced to the knockout round at the World Cup for the first time in the expanded 48-team pool at this year’s tournament. The potential late winning goal was called back due to an offside, though, and Egypt advanced past the group stage.