Cape Verde surprises Spain with a draw in their FIFA World Cup 2026™ debut; Belgium and Egypt drew 1-1 with Romelo Lukaku's electric entrance on substitute. Meanwhile, Uruguay scores their late equaliser, securing a 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia; and Iran settles for a 2-2 draw against New Zealand in US, amid peace deal. Join your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy for this episode of World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast, as she wraps up day five of the World Cup. Will Spain remain as one of the biggest favourites to lift the trophy? What can we expect from Cape Verde in the upcoming matches? And will Iran continue this momentum in their next match against Egypt?
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TRANSCRIPT
Cape Verde surprises Spain with a draw in their FIFA World Cup 2026™ debut; Belgium and Egypt drew 1-1 with Romelo Lukaku's electric entrance on substitute.
Meanwhile, Uruguay scores their late equaliser, securing a 1-1 draw with Saudi Arabia; Iran settles for a 2-2 draw against New Zealand.
This is SBS News’ World Cup Daily, The 90+ Podcast, where we bring you stories on and beyond the pitch, and I'm your host Haylena Krishnamoorthy.
Here's a recap of day five of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Let's get into it.
Cape Verde - playing in their first World Cup in Atlanta - stunned Spain and the world to a 0-0 draw, which frankly came as a shock to Spain fans and the world of football.
Cape Verde is the third-smallest country to qualify for a World Cup, with a population of just over 500-thousand.
The national team goalkeeper Josimar 'Vozinha' Diaz spoke after the match saying he cried thinking of his mother in the historic moment.
“My mum, she didn't manage to be here because of the visa. How to say, I forget now.... Because of the money we have to pay for the visa. We didn't manage (put it together) on time. And, I would like she to be here, but, I'm very happy also. And I'm very happy for all the Cape Verdean people.”
Meanwhile, Belgium has drawn with Egypt 1-1 at the at Seattle stadium.
Romelu Lukaku came off the bench and just 23 seconds in, the striker prompted Egypt's defender Mohamed Hany to score an own-goal for Belgium at the 66th minute.
Lukaku first touch, it may have gone in by a defender on an own goal, but you can bet Romelu Lukaku will be claiming that one."
Lukaku made his mark, seizing the spotlight from Egypt's legend Mo Salah and Belgium's Kevin De Bruyne.
Many fans likely walked away disappointed and this includes a crowd of Belgium supporters who shared high hopes of a win before the match.
"This is my first time in the World Cup so it's going to be very excited for this show so I'm very happy to be here. And I'm here with Belgium, you know. Go Belgium. Go Lukaku, go Doku, we're with you. Seattle is with you, all right?"
Both Belgium and Egypt are expected to progress out of the group stage.
New Zealand and Iran are the other two teams in their group and they will go in as favourites against both.
In other games Saudi Arabia proved an impressive draw against Uruguay with 1-1 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami.
Abdulelah Al Amri scored the first goal at 41 minutes, but the Saudi team was under pressure and failed to hold out against the two-time winners.
And Maxi Araujo rescued a point for Uruguay at the 80th minute.
"Uruguay's pressure continues, what a save, unbelievable stop by (Mohammed) Al-Owais, Uruguay can't believe it. (Federico) Valverde their captain can't believe it, but (Mohammed) Al-Owais is able to keep it out."
Uruguay - is also the smallest nation by population of close to 3.4 million people to win the World Cup.
They claimed the first-ever FIFA World Cup title in 1930, and their second victory was in 1950 in Brazil.
Football fan Hadi has been watching the World Cup from Sydney.
He's an Afghan - who spent part of his earlier life in Iran.
This was his prediction ahead of the Iran vs New Zealand match.
"Iran, New Zealand it's gonna be tough, but I feel like, Iran's probably gonna win like two-nil or two-one."
He wasn't entirely wrong, except Iran settled for a 2-2 draw against New Zealand.
Clinical 26-year-old Elijah Just scored both goals for New Zealand - at the seventh and 54th minute.
Here he is speaking after the match.
"I'm just so happy, one was nice and then two was just amazing, so yeah really pleased."
Journalist: "A draw in Group G, a very tight group now isn't it?"
Eli Just: "Yeah absolutely, we know that we have tough opponents we all watched the Egypt-Belgium game, we know how strong they are so we've got a lot of work to do."
And closer to home though New Zealand player Sarpreet Singh told SBS Punjabi of his joy at representing New Zealand on the World Cup stage.
"Yeah, it's been good. It's been an amazing feeling. I think when we qualified for the World Cup, knowing that we'd be able to go to the World Cup was really nice. And then from there it's just been about preparing for the World Cup and I think obviously representing the Punjabi community as well is a huge thing for me. And also the New Zealand as a country as a whole as well. So it's, it's very fortunate to represent both countries and yeah, I'm just excited to be here now."
And Iran's Mohammad Mohebi delivered a strong finish with a second header just in front of the penalty spot into the bottom corner.
The 64th minute goal was made possible by Mohebi's attacking midfielder teammate, Saman Ghoddos.
Like a lot of Australians, Sydney fan Hadi says he is going for more than one team.
"If you ask me which team that I want to win the World Cup, obviously my first preference is the Socceroos, Australia. If not them, maybe Iran because I lived there. And if not, well, not these two, I like any Asian countries from Asian federations to win it. So yeah, I want to see a new team to win World Cup this time. I actually want like a non-country like from South America or European country to win the World Cup."
But says that might not be the case.
"Realistically, I feel like, France and Spain have like a good chance to win the World Cup."
Security remained high on the ground as Iran faced New Zealand in its first match.
FIFA had earlier banned the flags inside the stadium, as well as signs with names and photos of athletes alleged to have been killed by the Iranian government.
Before the match, a small number of protesters gathered outside the Los Angeles' Sofi stadium, waving Iran's pre-revolutionary flag.
Iran and the US are due to sign a peace deal later this week to end the war in the Middle East.
And I'll be back with you tomorrow for another episode, discussing the results from France against Senegal, Iraq and Norway, Argentina and Algeria, Austria and Jordan.
Stay tuned for the latest at World Cup Daily | The 90+ Podcast.
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