{"id":6980,"date":"2026-06-16T15:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T10:10:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2026-06-16T15:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T10:10:09","slug":"fifa-world-cup-2026-underdogs-shine-as-all-four-matches-end-in-draws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/?p=6980","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup 2026: Underdogs Shine as All Four Matches End in Draws"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">June 15, 2026 | Times Asian Sports Desk<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">The fifth day of the FIFA World Cup 2026 produced a series of surprises as all four matches ended level, highlighting the growing competitiveness of the expanded 48-team tournament. Tournament favorites Spain, Belgium, Uruguay, and Iran were all denied victories by determined opponents. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">In Atlanta, World Cup debutants Cape Verde stunned European champions Spain with a resilient 0-0 draw. Spain dominated possession and created numerous scoring opportunities, but veteran goalkeeper Vozinha delivered a heroic performance to secure his nation&#8217;s first-ever World Cup point. The result is already being regarded as one of the biggest upsets of the tournament&#8217;s opening week. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Group G action saw Belgium and Egypt share the points in a thrilling 1-1 encounter. Egypt impressed throughout and took the lead before Belgium responded in the second half. Both sides created chances to win, but neither could find a decisive goal. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">In Miami, Saudi Arabia earned a valuable 1-1 draw against two-time world champions Uruguay. Saudi Arabia struck first and defended resolutely before Uruguay equalized late in the match. Despite dominating possession and creating numerous chances, Uruguay failed to secure all three points. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">The day&#8217;s final match in Los Angeles also ended in a stalemate as Iran and New Zealand played out an entertaining 2-2 draw. New Zealand&#8217;s Elijah Just scored twice, but Iran responded on both occasions to keep the match level and leave Group G finely balanced. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Results \u2013 June 15, 2026<\/span><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Spain 0\u20130 Cape Verde<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Belgium 1\u20131 Egypt<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Saudi Arabia 1\u20131 Uruguay<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Iran 2\u20132 New Zealand <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Looking Ahead<\/span><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">Attention now turns to Tuesday&#8217;s fixtures as Group I and Group J begin their campaigns. Football fans will be watching closely as France face Senegal, Iraq take on Norway, and Argentina open their tournament against Algeria. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 18px;\">The latest results underline a clear message from World Cup 2026: no team can be taken lightly, and the gap between traditional powers and emerging football nations continues to narrow.\u00a0<\/span><!--\/data\/user\/0\/com.samsung.android.app.notes\/files\/clipdata\/clipdata_bodytext_260616_060830_602.sdocx--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>June 15, 2026 | Times Asian Sports Desk The fifth day of the FIFA World Cup 2026 produced a series of surprises as all four matches ended level, highlighting the growing competitiveness of the expanded 48-team tournament. Tournament favorites Spain, Belgium, Uruguay, and Iran were all denied victories by determined opponents. In Atlanta, World Cup [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/historic-all-draws-day-5-2026-world-cup.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6982,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions\/6982"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesasian.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}