{"id":23096,"date":"2026-06-22T03:45:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/23096\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T03:45:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T03:45:13","slug":"world-cup-roundup-spain-makes-statement-belgiums-struggles-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/23096\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup Roundup: Spain Makes Statement; Belgium’s Struggles Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lamine Yamal got Spain back on track during an eventful Sunday at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

After Spain’s blowout win, Iran earned a hard-fought point against Belgium and Cape Verde gave Uruguay a brief scare with its first-ever World Cup goal.<\/p>\n

Here is everything you might have missed on Day 11 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup:<\/p>\n

Spain vs. Saudi ArabiaSpain is now on a 32-game unbeaten streak. Spain also continues its streak of not winning at least one of its two opening games at the World Cup. The last time that happened was in 2014.Spain is starting two teenagers (Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubars\u00ed) for the third time in their last five World Cup group-stage matches.Yamal became the eighth-youngest player to score in a World Cup at 18 years, 343 days old, passing Lionel Messi for that spot.Spain has not lost any of the 22 matches that Lamine Yamal has started (16 wins, six draws).Mikel Oyarzabal scored twice and assisted once in the first half, becoming only the second player on record (from 1966) to score or assist three goals in the opening 25 minutes of a World Cup match. The other: Hungary’s L\u00e1szl\u00f3 Fazekas against El Salvador in 1982.Spain vs Saudi Arabia Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup\u2122 \"Spain<\/a> Belgium vs. IranWith an average age of 32 years and 181 days, Iran fielded the oldest starting XI since OPTA began tracking in 1966.Excluding own goals, Belgium has now gone 406 minutes at the World Cup since scoring a goal.Belgium has taken 69 shots at the World Cup since a Belgium player last got on the scoresheet (Michy Batshuayi vs. Canada in 2022), according to OPTA.Belgium registered 23 shots against Iran, which is its most without scoring in a World Cup game since 1994, when it had 28 against Saudi Arabia.Belgium defender Nathan Ngoy’s red card was the eighth of this World Cup. The last two World Cups had eight combined (four each).Belgium vs Iran Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup\u2122 \"Belgium<\/a> Uruguay vs. Cape VerdeCape Verde is the first national team to score from a direct free kick as its first goal in a World Cup since at least 1966, according to OPTA.Goalkeepers Fernando Muslera (40 years and 5 days) and Verde Vozinha (40 years and 18 days) are the first pair of players over 40 to start the same World Cup match.Striker Darwin N\u00fa\u00f1ez hasn\u2019t scored in his last 15 appearances for Uruguay. His last goal came in June 2024 at Copa Am\u00e9rica.Maxi Ara\u00fajo is the first player to be involved in three goals in Uruguay’s first two matches in a World Cup since at least 1966 (two goals and one assist). He’s also the first Uruguay player to both score and assist in the same match in the tournament since Juan Mugica against Israel in 1970.This game featured the lowest combined population (3.9 million people) of any group-stage match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.Uruguay vs Cape Verde Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup\u2122 \"Uruguay<\/a> New Zealand vs. EgyptEgypt recorded its first win ever at the FIFA World Cup with with a 3-1 victory over New Zealand at BC Plce.Mo Salah is the first Egyptian player ever to play in four World Cup matches.Salah is the first player to score at multiple World Cups for Egypt. His third career World Cup goal also passed Abdel Fawzi (two) as the country’s all-time top goalscorer at the World Cup.Tr\u00e9z\u00e9guet joins Salah as the only Egyptian players ever to play in four World Cup matches. He netted his first World Cup goal in the win.This is the first time that Egypt has scored three goals in a World Cup match.New Zealand vs Egypt Extended Highlights | 2026 FIFA World Cup\u2122 \"New<\/a> BEST OF THE DAY<\/p>\n

Save Of The Day<\/p>\n

\"Alireza<\/a><\/p>\n

Belgium was in control of Sunday’s matchup against Iran, and the Red Devils looked like the more likely team to break through with a goal.<\/p>\n

A defining moment in the game came in the 59th minute, when Belgium star Kevin de Bruyne brilliantly controlled a lofted pass from Leandro Trossard near the touchline. He played a pass into the box, where left back Maxim De Cuyper eventually put a shot on goal that Beiranvand got a strong hand on.<\/p>\n

Seven minutes later, the game changed when Belgium center back Nathan Ngoy was sent off. Iran stayed defensively strong and got its second draw of the tournament ahead of its final game of the tournament next week against Egypt.<\/p>\n

Assist Of The Day<\/p>\n

\"Dani<\/a><\/p>\n

Mikel Oyarzabal’s amazing first 25 minutes finished with a tap-in finish at the back post after a great passing sequence that saw the ball not touch the ground.<\/p>\n

Right back Pedro Porro played a pass to the far post, which Marc Cucurella played toward the center of the box, where Olmo kept the ball in the air with his head. From there, it landed right at Oyarzabal’s foot for an easy finish.<\/p>\n

Goal Of The Day<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/a><\/p>\n

Cape Verde’s first-ever World Cup goal was scored in style.<\/p>\n

Uruguay midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur committed a foul about 30 yards away from goal in the middle of the field. Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera put two players in his defensive wall, although it proved hugely ineffective.<\/p>\n

Pina stepped up and smashed a shot through the wall that moved away from Muslera and snuck inside the post. It was a great hit from the Cape Verde-born midfielder that shocked Miami Stadium.<\/p>\n

Moment Of The Day<\/p>\n

\"Lamine<\/a><\/p>\n

Spain’s 18-year-old phenom came on for the final quarter of the team’s 0-0 draw against Cape Verde to open the tournament. He looked lively but could not break through.<\/p>\n

It took him 10 minutes to get the ball into the back of the net against Saudi Arabia. Spain attacker Mikel Oyarzabal held up possession on the left wing and then played a brilliant ball into the back post, where Yamal slid in to tuck the ball home. It was a great moment for the player who we ranked as the No. 1 player at the World Cup<\/a>, as well as a signal that Spain is still a serious contender.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lamine Yamal got Spain back on track during an eventful Sunday at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. After…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,13088,5260,3937,3164,2176,2339,116,375,13840,13951,13949,13950],"class_list":["post-23096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-belgium","tag-cape-verde","tag-egypt","tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","tag-iran","tag-new-zealand","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-spain","tag-uruguay","tag-wc-belgium-vs-iran-06-21-2026","tag-wc-new-zealand-vs-egypt-06-21-2026","tag-wc-spain-vs-saudi-arabia-06-21-2026","tag-wc-uruguay-vs-cape-verde-06-21-2026"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116791707426170475","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}