Four World Cup draws on Monday extend rare trend — Whos Playing Today World Cup
Four World Cup matches ended level on Monday, with Spain drawing 0-0 with Cape Verde, Belgium finishing 1-1 with Egypt, Saudi Arabia drawing 1-1 with Uruguay and Iran tying 2-2 with New Zealand. For whos playing today world cup, the bigger point is the pace of the tournament: eight of the first 16 matches have finished level, a rate that has already pushed the opening week into rare territory.
Belgium and Egypt in Seattle
Belgium’s 1-1 draw with Egypt came in Seattle at a lunchtime kick-off in temperatures climbing above 30C. Rudi Garcia said Belgium should have done better after the result, and he pointed to the conditions as part of the match’s edge: “Whether it is 10 degrees or 30 degrees, we should have done better.”
He added: “The grass really needed watering. It was very dry and as a result it was slowing the ball down.” Belgium became the seventh of 10 European teams to fail to win their opening match, a run that includes Germany beating Curacao, Scotland beating Haiti and Sweden beating Tunisia in their first games. England, Croatia, France, Norway, Austria and Portugal had not yet played their openers.
Eight draws in 16 matches
The opening 16 matches have produced eight draws, and no previous World Cup had recorded that many at the same stage. The previous high was seven, set in 1974, then matched in 1982 and 1986. Monday also produced the first day with four World Cup matches ending without a winner since 15 June 1958.
That start sits inside the expanded 48-team format, where only 16 of the 48 teams are eliminated after the group stage and three draws could almost certainly be enough to advance. With 87.5% of the opening matches producing results short of a win, the early table has already narrowed the margin for error for teams still trying to protect goal difference.
Switzerland’s 26 shots
Switzerland’s 1-1 draw with Qatar added another line to the same pattern. Murat Yakin’s side finished with 26 shots and 3.24 expected goals, a return that matched the tournament’s theme of frustration for teams that created enough to win but did not. Belgium’s own draw carried the same shape: more than one point was there to take, but the score stayed level.
For teams still waiting to start their campaigns, the message from Monday is blunt. Early draws have already piled up to eight, and in a competition where the top line is still being written, the teams that turn those level games into wins will separate themselves fastest.
