Title Contender Spain Held to Shock Draw by Cape Verde

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Spain, the second-ranked team in the FIFA rankings and a title contender for the North and Central American World Cup, has suffered a major blow to its pride in its opening group stage match. The team was held to a scoreless draw after being thwarted by a stellar performance from the goalkeeper of Cape Verde, an African nation making its tournament debut.

Reporter Ha Sung-ryong has the story.

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With a starting lineup consisting entirely of players from major European leagues, Spain was expected to easily overcome Cape Verde, which has only one such player among its 26-man squad. It was viewed as a battle between "Goliath and David," but contrary to expectations, the match will be recorded as the biggest upset of the group stage so far.

Spain, led by Mikel Oyarzabal, Pedri, and Rodri, dominated possession with 74% and launched wave after wave of attacks. However, they were unable to break through Cape Verde's compact defense or get past 40-year-old goalkeeper Vozinha, who was playing in his first-ever World Cup match.

Spain failed to find the back of the net late in the first half due to a series of miraculous saves by Vozinha, and even after bringing on star player Lamine Yamal—who returned from a hamstring injury—in the second half, they could not produce a breakthrough.

Despite firing 27 shots, Spain failed to score a single goal, ending in a 0-0 stalemate against a resilient Cape Verde defense and a goalkeeper who saved all seven of Spain's shots on target.

Spain left the pitch with heads bowed, their pride as title favorites wounded, while fans of Cape Verde, an island nation with a population of 520,000, celebrated as if they had won the tournament.

Goalkeeper Vozinha, who secured a historic first point for Cape Verde, was moved to tears.

In Group G, Egypt, ranked 29th in the FIFA rankings, drew 1-1 with 9th-ranked Belgium.

Egypt took the lead in the 19th minute of the first half when Emam Ashour fired a powerful long-range shot off a pass from Mohamed Salah. However, they narrowly missed out on a victory after a defender scored an own goal in the 21st minute of the second half while trying to stop a charge by Belgium's Romelu Lukaku.

(Video Editing: Park Ki-duk)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.