Cape Verde managed to secure second place in Group H, finishing ahead of teams such as Uruguay and Saudi Arabia—with whom it tied—and will be advancing to the Round of 32 with just three points.
On Friday evening, Cape Verde drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia, whose only real scoring chance of the match came in stoppage time with a shot by Khalid Al-Ghannam that rolled slowly into the hands of Vozinha. The Africans had more dangerous chances on the Saudi goal, but their shots either went wide or were deflected by the opposing goalkeeper.
With this result, there have now been 17 instances in which a World Cup debutant has advanced to the next round.
This statistical milestone, which includes the single-elimination formats used in the early World Cups and the traditional modern group stage, breaks down as follows: 1930 (Uruguay): In the first edition of the tournament, all 13 participating teams were first-time participants. 1934–1990: In eight different tournaments, at least one team managed to advance past the first round in its debut.
Notable examples include Cuba in 1938, Wales in 1958, and North Korea in 1966. 1994–2018: Countries such as Nigeria (1994), Croatia (1998), Senegal (2002), and Slovakia (2010) surprised everyone by advancing to the following round.
Uruguay tripped up again, and Bielsa failed once more at a World Cup
Uruguay completed its World Cup debacle with a 1-0 loss to Spain in Guadalajara.
La Furia Roja opened the scoring in the 42nd minute through Alex Baena. The Atlético Madrid player shot from outside the box, and the ball skimmed along the ground. Uruguay’s goalkeeper, Muslera, managed to get to the ball, but it slipped through his hands and nestled into the back of the net.
For the second half, Bielsa decided to bench Muslera in favor of Sergio Rochet, thus benching the veteran Uruguayan goalkeeper following multiple mistakes in the last three games.
Bielsa has once again made a blunder, just as he did in 2002 against Argentina.
