With the first round of the group stage not yet completed and top-rated national teams such as France, Portugal, Argentina and England still to take to the field, the World Cup football The ongoing tournament between the USA, Mexico, and Canada has already provided the first surprises. Or rather, the first flops, even if they are largely remediable given that the formula allows a player to advance to the round of 16 even with few points in the group. The most sensational case is that of Spain, who yesterday in the opening match of Group H, in Atlanta, incredibly, they were held to a 0-0 draw by Cape Verde, the small African island country that was taking part in a World Cup for the first time..
Spain dominated but Cape Verde proved to be up to the task, deserving a draw.
Among the Cape Verdeans, the only player more or less known to us Italians is Rocha Livramento, formerly of Serie A with Verona, but in reality the national team led by Pedro Leitão Brito proved to be a well-organized team, which, unlike Curaçao, which suffered a 7-1 defeat by Germany, truly deserves these stages. Spain, for its part, did not play badly, creating many scoring opportunities that, however, were not converted, thanks in part to the saves of Cape Verdean goalkeeper Vozinha, 40 years old and already a candidate to be one of the characters of this World CupBarcelona star Lamine Yamal also came on at the end, recovering from injury.
Brazil's debut on Saturday: 1-1 draw with Morocco, a flop for Ancelotti.
Saturday, however, marked Carlo Ancelotti's debut as head coach at the World Cup (he was Arrigo Sacchi's assistant at USA 94), leading the most successful national team of all and the only one to have participated in every edition of the Cup: Brazil. Compared to Spain, The South Americans faced a much more fearsome opponent, Morocco, semi-finalists in Qatar in 2022 and champions of AfricaThe Brazil-Morocco match was the only one in the first round to pit two nations both in the top 10 of the FIFA rankings against each other. However, the fact remains that Brazil is among the tournament favorites, and a different performance was expected: in the end, the 1-1 draw against the North Africans was almost a good result, given that Brahim Diaz and his teammates proved superior throughout the match.
Two big teams make their debuts today: France vs. Senegal and Argentina vs. Algeria.
On Tuesday, June 16, two of the most likely nations to win the 2026 World Cup will take to the field for the first time: reigning champions Argentina, once again featuring Lionel Messi, and Kylian Mbappé's France. The French will start, facing Senegal at 9:00 p.m. Italian time at MetLife Stadium. A few hours later, Erving Haaland's Norway will also be on the pitch against Iraq, while at 3am in Italy it's the turn of the albiceleste, who play against Algeria in Kansas City.
