Cape Verde dig out a second famous draw, holding Uruguay 2-2
Kevin Pina’s stunning free kick and Helio Varela’s second-half leveller earned World Cup debutants Cape Verde a 2-2 draw with Uruguay, leaving Group H to the final day.
Jun 22, 2026
Cape Verde keep doing this. A goalless draw with Spain last week was filed under romantic one-off, the sort of night a tournament debutant gets once and dines out on for years. Six days later they did it again, this time clawing back a 2-1 deficit to hold Uruguay 2-2 in Miami and leave Group H wide open. For an island nation playing its first World Cup, two points from games against Spain and Uruguay is not luck running out. It is starting to look like a team that belongs.
Pina writes his name into the history books
The opener was worth the trip on its own. Telmo Arcanjo was fouled around 30 yards out, and rather than wait for a cross Kevin Pina simply hit it, driving the free kick through a gap in the Uruguay wall and into the bottom corner on 21 minutes. It was Cape Verde’s first goal at a World Cup, scored by a side ranked outside the world’s top 60 against one of South America’s heavyweights. The Miami crowd, heavily tilted towards the underdog, lost its mind.
Uruguay hit back before the break
Marcelo Bielsa’s side, who had left Darwin Nunez on the bench, needed a response and got two in the space of a few minutes. Maxi Araujo levelled in the 44th minute, and deep into first-half stoppage time Agustin Canobbio turned the game on its head, making it 2-1 with virtually the last kick before the interval. At that point the comeback story looked like it belonged to Uruguay, who had ridden out the early shock and gone in ahead.
Varela has the final word
Cape Verde did not fold. Bubista’s substitutions changed the game, and one of them settled it. Helio Varela came off the bench and pounced just after the hour, his 61st-minute finish dragging Cape Verde level again and shifting the noise back to their corner of the stadium. Uruguay pushed for a winner late on but found a defence that refused to break twice, and the islanders held on for a point that felt like a victory.
Group H goes to the final day
The result leaves Spain top of Group H on four points after their 4-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia, with Cape Verde and Uruguay both on two and Saudi Arabia propping up the table. Nothing is settled. Uruguay close their group against Spain on June 27 while Cape Verde face Saudi Arabia the same day, and a side many had pencilled in as the group’s whipping boys now controls its own qualification. Whatever happens next, Cape Verde have already turned their first World Cup into something nobody back home will forget.