Saudi Arabia’s goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owaisclears the ball during the 2026 World Cup Group H match. Photo: AFP <\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\n
Uruguay dominated but had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia in the sweltering heat of Miami on Monday to leave an intriguing Group H wide open.<\/p>\n
The stalemate came hours after one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history when European champions Spain were held 0-0 by debutants Cape Verde in the same group.<\/p>\n
After the first round of games in the pool all four teams have one point.<\/p>\n
Defender\u00a0Abdulelah\u00a0al-Amri\u00a0gave the Saudis a surprise lead near the end of the first half only for Uruguay’s second-half pressure to pay off with 10 minutes left through Maxi Araujo.<\/p>\n
Marcelo\u00a0Bielsa’s\u00a0Uruguay racked up 22 shots in the second period but the Saudi\u00a0defence\u00a0and goalkeeper Mohammed al-Owais\u00a0doggedly held firm.<\/p>\n
“We should have won this match,” said the\u00a0colourful\u00a0Argentine\u00a0Bielsa, whose side play Cape Verde next.<\/p>\n
“We weren’t able to show the best version of ourselves,” he added, admitting that his side only got going in the second half.<\/p>\n
Uruguay, World Cup winners in 1930 and 1950, saw their arrival in the United States from Mexico delayed by a snag with the paperwork for their plane.<\/p>\n
In evening temperatures of more than 30C and energy-sapping humidity, both teams struggled to create much in front of goal early on.<\/p>\n
Just after the half-hour mark the Saudi stopper\u00a0Owais\u00a0was called into action for a second time to parry a diving header from close range by Federico\u00a0Vinas.<\/p>\n
The Saudis, who stunned eventual champions Argentina 2-1 to start their campaign at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, looked to hit their opponents on the break.<\/p>\n
They had their first real opportunity shortly before half-time when\u00a0Amri\u00a0forced Fernando\u00a0Muslera\u00a0to palm away his fizzing shot.<\/p>\n
Four minutes before the break the defender did score, reacting fastest to poke home from close range after\u00a0Muslera\u00a0spilled a header from a corner.<\/p>\n
Uruguay finally come to life\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n After a toothless first period,\u00a0Bielsa\u00a0had seen enough, dragging off defender Matias\u00a0Vina\u00a0and anonymous former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez.<\/p>\n Winger Agustin\u00a0Canobbio\u00a0and left-sided Juan Manuel\u00a0Sanabriawere introduced.<\/p>\n The double substitution sparked Uruguay — who surprisingly did not play a single World Cup warm-up game — into lift.<\/p>\n Saudi coach Georgios\u00a0Donis, brought in just two months before the tournament, saw his team retreat farther and farther back.<\/p>\n On the hour Manchester United midfielder Manuel\u00a0Ugartepinged the ball against the foot of the Saudi post from well outside the box.<\/p>\n The pressure finally told late on when\u00a0Owais\u00a0made a mess of a routine stop and Araujo gobbled up the rebound.<\/p>\n There looked to be only one winner after that, but Saudi Arabia just about held on for a vital point<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Saudi Arabia’s goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owaisclears the ball during the 2026 World Cup Group H match. Photo: AFP LONDON: Uruguay dominated but had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Saudi Arabia in the sweltering heat of Miami on Monday to leave an intriguing Group H wide open. The stalemate came hours after one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/img-73381781624656-0\/img-73381781624656-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t