20m agoWho is in ... and out
38m agoFull time: Uruguay 0-1 Spain: Uruguay are out of the World Cup
39m agoRed card: Canobbio (94 min)
2h agoHalf-time: Uruguay 0-1 Spain
2h agoGOAL! Uruguay 0-1 Spain (Alex Baena 41 min)
And here’s Sid Lowe’s match report from the game. Good night!
This is the second successive World Cup that Uruguay have gone out in the group stage – they finished third in a group that included Portugal, South Korea and Ghana last time around. This failure is a lot worse though: in 2022 they at least won a match and only went out on goals scored, and in a tougher group too.
Our own Nick Ames was on hand to witness some history in Houston this evening:
Through to the last 32: Mexico, South Africa, Switzerland, Canada, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Morocco, USA, Australia, Paraguay, Germany, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Egypt, Spain, Cape Verde, France, Norway, Argentina, Colombia, Portugal, England and Ghana.
Eliminated: Czechia, Qatar, Haiti, Turkey, Curaçao, Tunisia, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Panama.
My colleague Beau Dure has looked at the third-place scenarios after tonight’s match:
Shall we look at the third-place scenarios?
FINISHED PLAY Sweden 4 pts Ecuador 4 Bosnia 4 Paraguay 4 (they have now qualified) Senegal 3 (+1 GD) South Korea 3 (-1 GD) Scotland 3 (-3 GD) Uruguay 2 (-1 GD) STILL TO COME
Group G: If Egypt (4 pts) beat Iran (2) and Belgium (2) beat New Zealand (1), Iran will be third with 2 pts. An Iranian win would complicate things. A draw would put Iran at 3 pts with a level goal difference, so they would slot in ahead of South Korea and Scotland if they end up in third.
Group J: If Austria and Algeria draw, they both advance – there’s some interesting history of note there (see 1982). If Austria beat Algeria by two goals, that’s more good news for Scotland.
Group K: A DR Congo-Uzbekistan draw would eliminate both teams. An Uzbekistan win would be too little too late unless they pile on the goals. DR Congo would almost certainly be third with a win and would advance.
Group L: Croatia-Ghana draw puts Croatia third with four points. A Croatia win puts Ghana third with four points. So the third-place teams will be hoping Croatia lose. They have a -1 goal difference, so a multi-goal loss would help Scotland.
One knock on effect of the result – England are guaranteed a place in the last-32:
Craig Tupper on the red card: “Love how Cucurella was calming influence in Nico foul. Even he thought this is all a bit much over nothing. We’ll not miss Uruguay.”
As for Spain, they did what they do well – controlling the match for large stretches of the evening. That meant a team who needed to win barely threatened. If there are concerns for Spain is that they only looked truly dangerous in one match in the group stage – against Saudi Arabia. And there were some sloppy passes this evening, although they would argue they didn't need to be perfect, and they can no doubt shift gears when they need to. Aaron Woolsey emails in with a few more thoughts on that:
“Perhaps the lethargy from Spain today is a result of it being their first match at elevation after training at a relatively low altitude for the past few weeks. Beware, team England! Mexico City is going to be a massive challenge (if they get there) simply due to the altitude!”
Canobbio is still arguing with the officials about his red card. What is he complaining about? Getting sent off for a studs up tackle? It’s hardly the refs’ fault Uruguay were largely dire in their last three matches.
There’s no disgrace in losing 1-0 to Spain – plenty of very good teams have done so. Uruguay really lost this World Cup when they failed to beat Cape Verde or Saudi Arabia. It’s allowed Cape Verde to write one of the best World Cup stories in many years though.
That’s it. The two-time champions are out of a group that looked pretty easy when the draw was made. Spain win the group. And Cape Verde are into the knockout stage!
Canobbio goes in high with his studs up and he is correctly sent off. Just about sums up Uruguay’s tournament. Canobbio looks unhappy about that decision, I’ve no idea why.
90 min + 3: De La Cruz is booked for a foul and shoving match with Nico Williams.
90 min +1: Four more minutes for Uruguay to save their World Cup.
90 min: Shout for a Uruguay penalty as Vinas goes down in the area but it’s actually Spain’s Dani Olmo who is fouled. Now, I’m no referee but I’m fairly sure you need to be the one getting fouled to win a penalty.
87 min: Ferran Torres rattles the bar after waltzing into space about 15 yards out. The skills was lovely, the finish not quite so much.
85 min: Uruguay do not look as frantic as I’d like for a team who need to score to stay in the World Cup. Or do they? De la Cruz’s dipping shot tests Unai Simon. That’s probably what they should have started trying a while back.
83 min: Another Uruguay cross-shot. This one from Olivera and Unai Simon has to save at his near post. This is not a classic.
82 min: Canobbio cross shot is neither a cross or a shot (a crot? a shoss?) and it goes well over the bar.
80 min: Chance! Nearly! Nunez almost gets on to a through ball into the box but Unai Simon charges out to smother the threat.
77 min: It’s still 0-0 in the group’s other game. That means Cape Verde would go through as things stand. What a magnificent story if it pans out.
76 min: Nico Williams and Ferran Torres will be entering the field for your entertainment. Lamine Yamal and Oyarzabal are the men going off.
74 min: Dani Olmo spins wonderfully then plays a through ball, but there’s no one through. So it’s just a ball.
72 min: Lamine Yamal strolls past a few Uruguay players because he can. But he’s hasn’t quite been at his best this evening, Uruguay have done a fairly good job of containing the teenager.
Hydration break email. And Justin Kavanagh likes his drinks with some literature:
“Eduardo Galeano – the great Uruguayan writer, journalist, and political activist famously wrote: I am… a beggar for good soccer. I go about the world, hand outstretched, and in the stadiums I plead: ‘A pretty move, for the love of God.’
“Although he claimed to not care who provided it, or whether a goal resulted, I’m sure Galeano’s spirit – sitting in purgatory along with all the Scottish faithful departe – —is rooting for only one team tonight, one pretty move, one elusive goal… for the love of God.”
67 min: This half has been much more open than the first. Perhaps because Uruguay have nothing to lose. The goalscorer, Alex Baena, is replaced by Pino. And with that … let’s hydrate!
65 min: Lamine Yamal twists some blood before laying the ball off to Dani Olmo. But the ball bobbles as it approaches him and he takes a strange wedge shot that scoops over the bar.
63 min: Dani Olmo skips into the area and there are appeals for a free-kick just outside the box but the ref waves play on. Spain will almost certainly win this group. They’ll face either Austria or Algeria in Los Angeles.
61 min: Spain have completed 400 passes to Uruguay’s 132.
60 min: Spain subs: Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz trot on for Pedri and Merino.
58 min: Vinas on for Valverde. Uruguay will hope he gives them a more physical threat up front.
55 min: A big yelp from Lamine Yamal as Sanabria hacks him. He is correctly booked. I wonder if Spain will take the teenager off soon if Uruguay are feeling spicy.
52 min: De La Cruz attempts a through ball to Canobbio but the pair don’t connect. Uruguay have been a little sparkier in this half but don’t start organising the winners parade in Montevideo just yet.
49 min: In tribute to the match being played in Guadalajara I will be ditching my Pepsi Zero for a Mexican Coke this half. The real sugar means it’s a health food. Talking of keepers, Uruguay’s best chance in this match has probably been to exploit the shaky Unai Simon. Something for Spain to think about going forward.
46 min: Yikes, Rochet is on for Muslera. Yes, he let in the only shot on target in this match and he was bad in the other two matches but that’s a horrible way for his long World Cup – this is his fourth – career to end. Still, Bielsa doesn’t really do sentiment.
My colleague Beau Dure is covering the Cape Verde v Saudi Arabia match. And at the moment it’s Cape Verde who are going through to face Argentina in the last 32. Here’s Beau on the match so far:
“Cape Verde social media icon Vozinha has made the only save of a sloppy first half, but the Blue Sharks were in the ascendancy in the last 15 minutes of the half and are poised to advance at the expense of Saudi Arabia. And Uruguay, apparently.”
You can follow the rest here:
Justin Kavanagh: “Is it too obvious to state that Uruguay have looked a little toothless up-front without Luis Suarez? Even the wisdom of Bielsa, with all his endless drilling, is not going to get them the crown.”
Paul Cockburn: “My coverage here in NZ jumped to commercial as the Spain goal went in. Was that a FIFA feed thing, or do I need to go and rage at our local people?”
Uruguay are heading out of the World Cup, and based on that performance – and their other two in this World Cup -they can’t complain too much. Yes, Spain are one of the best teams in the world but Uruguay have been curiously lifeless considering what is at stake. Spain have been … fine. They don’t need to get much from this match but neither did France, who pulverised Norway earlier in the today.
45 min: +7: Maxi Araujo whips in a free-kick but a Spanish head gets to it first. Uruguay have offered very li… Correction: Araujo has an excellent chance that Unai Simon dives to his right to pluck out the air.
45 min + 5: Oyarzabal thinks he has won a corner; he has not. Uruguay have done very little since conceding. They look pretty beaten, as they have for much of this World Cup.
45 min +1: Eight minutes of added time. Muslera is such an experienced player, it’s sad to see him make a terrible mistake like that in what will almost certainly be his last match. I could have seen Uruguay nicking a 1-0 win today based on early evidence. But this does not look like a team who will score twice in the next 45 minutes or so.
45 min: That was so sad that even Spain’s king, Felipe “Silver Fox” VI, looked guilty about it in the stands. To add injury to insult Ugarte is taken off injured, de la Cruz replaces him.
Ouch, not a good way to concede a goal. Baena turns nicely and unleashes a shot that is very close to Muslera, who pats the ball into his own goal. That was up there with Scotland for gifting your opponent a goal in a crucial match.
41 min: Oyarzabal has the wind knocked out of him. He’ll have to stand on the sidelines for a minute while he tries to locate it. He has a lot to say about that for a man with no wind.
39 min: Is Cucurella on the wrong team? “I like Spain, they’re exciting, but I struggle to back any team with Cucurella in it. He’d be a perfect fit in Bielsa’s team, his shithousery, his whole being feels culturally Uruguayan,” writes Chris Boys. Can we say “shithousery” in the Guardian? We can! Shithousery.
