Toothless Spain held by Cape Verde on World Cup debut

Spain’s ghosts of recent World Cup horror shows reappeared in Atlanta as the European champions were held 0-0 by debutants Cape Verde in their opening game on Monday.

Spain frustrated

Lamine Yamal was left on the bench as the Barcelona superstar is eased back to fitness after nearly two months out with a hamstring injury and even his appearance as a second-half substitute failed to break down Cape Verde’s dogged defence. mchezo.life

Since winning the World Cup for the first time in 2010, Spain have not won a knockout game and their inability to make dominance of possession count was reminiscent of their meek exits in 2018 and 2022.

Blessed with what coach Luis de la Fuente claimed is the best squad in the competition, Spain were considered among the pre-tournament favourites to go all the way and lift the World Cup on July 19.

But the importance of Yamal and Nico Williams to their chances of success was underlined by a flat performance.

Williams also had an injury-disrupted season at Athletic Bilbao and was not introduced until the 87th minute.

Ranked 67 in the world, Cape Verde were making their debut on the global stage and did a nation of just over 500,000 people proud.

Slow tempo

In stark contrast to the searing temperatures faced by some other sides, Atlanta’s state-of-the-art air conditioned stadium meant there was no excuses for the slow tempo of Spain’s build-up.

Indeed the mid-half hydration break was met by boos with fans frustrated at the break in play despite the cool conditions.

It took until six minutes before half-time for Spain to seriously threaten.

Marc Cucurella, fresh for sealing his move from Chelsea to Real Madrid, sent over a teasing cross that Ferran Torres turned onto the crossbar and Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha got back on his feet to turn Mikel Oyarzabal’s looping header over the bar.

Torres tested Vozinho again moments later before Aymeric Laporte’s header from a corner was also clawed away by the Cape Verde number one just before half-time.

The break came at a good time for the Blue Sharks and they comfortably held out in the second period until Yamal’s entrance after the second hydration break.

Billed as one of the stars of the tournament, Yamal’s appearance instantly lifted the crowd and injected life into the pedestrian Spanish attack.

His first involvement set up a decent opening for fellow substitute Mikel Merino which was too close to Vozinha.

Cape Verde come close

Yamal also began the move that saw Oyarzabal’s effort deflected over with Spain’s best chance of the second half.

Cape Verde nearly snatched a famous victory in the final minute of the 90 when Dani Borges planted a header too close to Unai Simon.

Spain’s road to victory in 2010 also began disappointingly with defeat to Switzerland, but they have much to work on ahead of facing Saudi Arabia in Atlanta once more on Sunday.

Cape Verde next take on Uruguay in Miami.

La Belgique joue face à l’Égypte ce mardi 15 juin 2026 dans le groupe G. La rencontre programmée à 19h00 GMT au Lumen Field Stadium, Seattle, compte pour la Coupe du Monde qui se déroule actuellement aux États-Unis, au Canada et au Mexique. Sur quelle chaîne TV suivre ce match en direct ?

Les Diables Rouges lancent leur compétition face aux Pharaons dans la soirée de ce mardi. Les poulains de Rudy Garcia, avec un fort potentiel, veulent marquer leur terrain d’entrée. Les Pharaons, de leur côté, veulent surprendre à cette édition du Mondial.

Où suivre ce match en direct ?

Belgique – Égypte sera diffusé sur les chaînes TV comme beIN Sports, New World TV et SuperSport.

The post Belgique – Égypte, sur quelle chaîne TV suivre le match en direct ? appeared first on AfricaFootUnited.

It will be interesting to see if the Springboks decide to back some of their internationally inexperienced United Rugby Championship (URC) stars for their clash against the Barbarians, or play it safe by utilising them in the SA A team against Zimbabwe.

The season opening double header takes place at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday, and it will be an important build-up to their Nations Championship home run of fixtures in July.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus thus has some tough decisions to make about whether to give some up-and-coming players a run for the main team or ease them into action with the SA A side.

Certain players will be in need of some game time having not played in a while, including the Boks’ Japanese-based players, as well as players like captain Siya Kolisi and his fellow Sharks players who missed out on the URC playoffs.

So will they all play in the main squad against the BaaBaas to build some synergy, or will they be mixed across the two teams?

Some URC stars who definitely deserve a go in the Bok side include Lions fullback Quan Horn as well as Stormers loose forward Paul de Villiers and loosehead prop Ntuthuko Mchunu.

But with Aphelele Fassi in the squad, as well as Kolisi, Ox Nche and Boan Venter, they may not be backed to start ahead of those established stars and some may have to accept a spot in the SA A team.

Hotly contested

Scrumhalf is also a hotly contested position, as Grant Williams is returning from injury, so will he start straight away?

Veteran Faf de Klerk has earned a recall and after playing just twice for the Boks off the bench against Italy and Georgia last year, it will be interesting to see if he is chosen for the main team, or if he will feature as a senior leader in the SA A side.

In-form rookie scrumhalves Haashim Pead and Nico Steyn from the Lions, and the Stormers’ Imad Khan, will all be hopeful of a spot in either side.

Then there is the question of whether the SA U20 players will be given what would be a surprising run, or if they have only played their part in the training camp and will be released to go join up with their Junior Springbok teammates in Cape Town ahead of the Junior World Championships kicking off in Georgia later this month.

Junior Bok captain Riley Norton, Oliver Reid, Danie Kruger, Siphosethu Mnebelele, Liam van Wyk, Vusi Moyo, Yaqeen Ahmed, Luan Giliomee, Markus Muller and Zekhethelo Siyaya are all in the wider Springbok training squad and it would be a surprise if they were risked this coming weekend.

In all, two very interesting squads are set to be named on Tuesday afternoon to take on the Barbarians and Zimbabwe, and whoever makes the main Bok team will likely have a shot at being named in the squad for the Nations Championship in July.

Fixtures: Saturday 20 July

SA A v Zimbabwe – Kick-off 12pm

Springboks v Barbarians – Kick-off 3pm

L’Espagne et le Cap-Vert ont rendez-vous ce lundi dans le groupe H. Ce match de la Coupe du Monde est programmé pour 16h00 GMT au Mercedes-Benz Stadium d’Atlanta. On vous donne une idée de quelques chaînes TV qui vont diffuser le match en direct.

L’Espagne, championne d’Europe, veut lancer idéalement sa compétition en remportant les trois points. Ce serait face au Cap-Vert, qui a envie d’écrire les belles pages de son histoire en Coupe du Monde. Les Requins bleus savent que la tâche ne sera pas facile ce soir.

Où suivre ce match en direct ?

Espagne – Cap-Vert peut être suivi sur les chaînes TV comme beIN Sports, New World TV et SuperSport.

The post Espagne – Cap-Vert, sur quelles chaînes TV suivre le match en direct ? appeared first on AfricaFootUnited.