{"id":520866,"date":"2026-06-27T07:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T07:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520866\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T07:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T07:44:09","slug":"world-cup-2026-pico-lopes-and-cape-verde-advance-as-keepers-error-knocks-out-uruguay-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/520866\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup 2026: Pico Lopes and Cape Verde advance, as keeper\u2019s error knocks out Uruguay \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although Shamrock Rovers<\/a>\u2019 captain Roberto \u2018Pico\u2019 Lopes<\/a> has not quite proved the slogan right, he can now claim to have done more than anyone else to further the case that the League of Ireland is actually the \u2018greatest league in the world\u2019. Last night marked another huge success for the Dublin-born centre back, as Cape Verde drew 0-0 with Saudi Arabia and advanced to the knockouts, taking second place in Group H.<\/p>\n

Their group\u2019s final day was always going to be cagey, with every team having a chance of going through and only Spain<\/a> guaranteed a spot in the knockouts. Cape Verde missed a couple of sitters late on, but the Blue Sharks were able to qualify with three draws thanks to Spain\u2019s 1-0 win over Uruguay. Lopes could have been playing Sligo away next Friday; instead he\u2019ll be playing against Messi.<\/p>\n

Marcelo Bielsa\u2019s Uruguay<\/a> were one of the tournament\u2019s biggest disappointments and were dumped out after a poor game and a dreadful winning goal for Spain. The commentary generously suggested that \u00c1lex Baena\u2019s strike \u201casked the question\u201d of Uruguay\u2019s veteran keeper Fernando Muslera. That question seemed to be \u201chave you played in goal before?\u201d, but the 40-year-old only managed to deflect the tame effort into the bottom corner. Apparently, he asked to be subbed at half-time, and Bielsa obliged.<\/p>\n

Ousmane Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 registered a superb hat-trick and D\u00e9sir\u00e9 Dou\u00e9 added one late on to complete a 4-1 victory for France over Norway. Norway effectively boycotted the game, changing ten of their starting 11 from the Senegal win, including Erling Haaland, setting up a date with Cote d\u2019Ivoire in the knockout stages. <\/p>\n

Elsewhere in Group I, Iraq exited the competition, as Senegal put together a medley of excellent goals and now look well placed to qualify for the knockouts from third place.<\/p>\n

Belgium knocked out New Zealand with a 5-1 win in Group G, claiming top spot. Leandro Trossard notched two, as De Bruyne and Lukaku opened their accounts for this World Cup, while Elijah Just rounded off his impressive tournament for the All-Whites with a goal.<\/p>\n

Iran will be kicking themselves that they didn\u2019t finish second in that group, after missing a penalty, hitting the crossbar twice and having a last-minute winner ruled out for offside against Egypt. The Pharaohs hung on to take second, while Iran will likely squeeze into the next round in third place.<\/p>\n

Results: <\/p>\n

Group I \u2013 Norway 1 (Aasgaard 21) France 4 (Demb\u00e9l\u00e9 7, 20, 32, Dou\u00e9 90+4)<\/p>\n

Group I \u2013 Senegal 5 (Diarra 4, Sarr 56, Gueye 59, 71, Ndiaye 82) Iraq 0<\/p>\n

Group H \u2013 Cape Verde 0 Saudi Arabia 0<\/p>\n

Group H \u2013 Uruguay 0 Spain 1 (Baena)<\/p>\n

Group G \u2013 New Zealand 1 (Just 84) Belgium 5 (Trossard 28, 50, De Bruyne 66, Lukaku 86, Saelemaekers 90+4)<\/p>\n

Group G \u2013 Egypt 1 (Saber 5) Iran 1 (Rezaeian 14)<\/p>\n

Goal of the day: You could take your pick from Senegal\u2019s last three goals, but Pape Gueye\u2019s second of the game stood out<\/a> for the sheer power on the strike. Fifa must have installed reinforced nets in Toronto because that ball was travelling.<\/p>\n

Moment of the day: What else, but the moment that Cape Verde clinched second place in their group? They had the initial relief of securing their own point, and then at 1.30 of this video, they hear the final whistle<\/a> of Spain-Uruguay, and the joy of their incredible achievement fully settles in.<\/p>\n

Picture of the day: Marcelo Bielsa has never been known for his cheery demeanour, and his tenure as Uruguay manager has been particularly difficult. The loss to Spain was \u2018El Loco\u2019s\u2019 final game as boss of La Celeste, but it\u2019s fair to say he didn\u2019t look very excited about it beforehand. In hindsight, he was better off not getting his hopes up.<\/p>\n

\"UruguayUruguay head coach Marcelo Bielsa arrives at the stadium before the Group H match against Spain at Guadalajara Stadium, Zapopan, Mexico. Photograph: Carl Recine\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Question of the day: Eighteen-year-old Lamine Yamal scored his first World Cup goal against Saudi Arabia, but who is the youngest Spanish player to score at the World Cup? (Answer below) <\/p>\n

Coming up today: <\/p>\n

Group L \u2013 Panama v England (10pm Irish time, RT\u00c92 & UTV); Croatia v Ghana (10pm, RT\u00c9 Player & ITV4)<\/p>\n

Group K \u2013 Colombia v Portugal (12.30am, RT\u00c92 & BBC One); DR Congo v Uzbekistan (12.30am, RT\u00c9 Player & BBC Two)<\/p>\n

Group J \u2013 Jordan v Argentina (3am, RT\u00c92 & BBC One); Algeria v Austria (3am, RT\u00c9 Player & BBC Two)<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in sport: The quarter-finals of the All-Ireland football championship start today, with Cork playing Mayo<\/a> and Kerry facing their old rivals Tyrone<\/a>. In cricket, Nathan Johns watched as Ireland caused an upset to gain their first win over India<\/a> on Friday in Stormont.<\/p>\n

In rugby, former Ireland women\u2019s rugby coach Phillip Doyle has died aged 61<\/a>. Doyle won a Grand Slam with Ireland in 2013 and masterminded a World Cup win over New Zealand in 2014. John O\u2019Sullivan reports.<\/p>\n

Answer to question: Barcelona midfielder Gavi, who scored at the 2022 World Cup, was also 18 but 233 days younger than Yamal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Although Shamrock Rovers\u2019 captain Roberto \u2018Pico\u2019 Lopes has not quite proved the slogan right, he can now claim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112,46616,4018],"class_list":["post-520866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports","tag-sports-briefing","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}