MIAMI — Colombia and Portugal played out a scoreless draw at Miami Stadium on Saturday in a meeting of World Cup heavyweights, with Colombia securing top spot in Group K despite the stalemate, as Cristiano Ronaldo was kept largely quiet by a determined Colombian defense.

The result extends a mixed tournament for Ronaldo, who had drawn attention for his celebratory outburst following Portugal’s earlier win over Uzbekistan, but found himself a peripheral figure for long stretches against a Colombian side that controlled much of the match’s tempo.

A chance encounter early on

The match nearly burst into life within the opening minute, when a deflected effort from Bayern Munich winger Luis Díaz spun unexpectedly onto the head of forward Jhon Córdoba inside the box. Córdoba, seemingly as surprised as anyone to find himself with the chance, lifted his attempt over the bar. Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa was called into action shortly after, producing a sharp one-handed save to deny Córdoba a second opportunity.

Portugal struggled to generate much of a response in the first half. A shot from midfielder Bruno Fernandes was batted away by Colombia goalkeeper Camilo Vargas, and Ronaldo’s follow-up attempt on the rebound, an overhead effort, was blocked before it could threaten the goal. Forward João Félix also tested Colombia’s defense with an effort that sailed over the bar, but for the most part, the opening 45 minutes offered little in the way of clear chances for either side, with Ronaldo struggling to find space against a well-organized Colombian back line.

Colombia presses for a breakthrough

The pattern of Colombian pressure continued into the second half. Midfielder Richard Ríos fired a shot just wide of Costa’s left-hand post from close range shortly after the hour mark, continuing a string of Colombian opportunities that went unrewarded. Ronaldo had a half-chance of his own at the other end, but was ruled offside before his effort could be assessed further.

Costa was forced into another important save soon after, denying Jhon Arias as Colombia continued searching for the goal that would settle the contest. Forward Luis Suárez also found space inside Portugal’s box but miskicked his attempt with Costa’s goal in sight, while a shot from James Rodríguez was cleared away by defender Renato Veiga before it could test the Portuguese goalkeeper.

Portugal’s response off the bench

With Colombia controlling much of the second-half play, Portugal manager Roberto Martínez turned to his bench in search of a spark, introducing forward Rafael Leão. The substitution nearly paid off when fullback Diogo Dalot curled an effort just wide of the target after receiving a corner delivery from Fernandes, offering one of Portugal’s better chances of an otherwise difficult night in front of goal.

A disallowed goal in stoppage time

Colombia appeared to have snatched a dramatic late winner in stoppage time, when defender Davinson Sánchez headed home what was initially celebrated as the decisive goal. Colombian substitutes streamed off the bench in celebration before officials intervened, ruling Sánchez offside and wiping out the goal. The disallowed effort proved to be the match’s final notable moment, with the contest finishing scoreless.

Martínez reflects on a missed opportunity

Speaking after the match, Portugal manager Roberto Martínez acknowledged that his side had allowed Colombia to dictate the terms of the contest. “We let Colombia have the match they wanted,” Martínez said. “We did not control possession as much as we wanted. We weren’t able to control the game or use our talent.”

The result leaves Martínez with plenty to address, given that Portugal has now struggled in two of its three matches so far in the tournament, despite possessing one of the most talent-laden rosters in the competition.

Where both teams go next

Despite the draw, Colombia’s result was enough to secure top spot in Group K, a notably positive outcome for a team that will now face Ghana in the round of 32. Portugal, meanwhile, finishes the group stage in second place and advances to face Croatia in the next round.

For Colombia, the result represents an encouraging marker after an entertaining and largely one-sided performance against one of the tournament’s most decorated squads, even if questions remain about the team’s finishing in front of goal after multiple missed opportunities throughout the match.

A raucous atmosphere in Miami

Saturday’s match also stood out for the scene inside Miami Stadium, where Colombian supporters appeared to dominate the crowd by a wide margin, continuing a recent trend of passionate fan turnouts at the venue. The atmosphere followed a similarly charged scene days earlier when Brazilian fans filled the same stadium for their team’s win over Scotland.

While Colombian fans have a more complicated recent history at major tournaments, including incidents involving fans storming gates at the 2024 Copa América final, Saturday’s crowd was orderly and high-spirited throughout, creating an atmosphere that made Colombia feel almost like a host nation despite not holding that status at this World Cup.

A measured night for Ronaldo

For Ronaldo, who turns 42 later this year, Saturday’s match offered a stark contrast to his prior outing against Uzbekistan, when his enthusiastic on-camera celebration drew attention across the tournament. Against a well-drilled Colombian defense, the Portuguese forward was unable to find the same rhythm, spending long stretches of the match on the periphery of the action and managing little in the way of direct goal-scoring threat before his side’s lone offside chance late in the second half.

With the group stage now behind them, both Colombia and Portugal turn their attention to the knockout rounds, where Colombia will look to build on a group-topping finish against Ghana, while Portugal and Martínez will look to address the possession and control issues that have plagued the team through much of the tournament when they face Croatia in the round of 32.

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What Happened in Markets Today

Stock indexes closely tied to AI fell Friday. Japan’s benchmark index slid more than 4%, weighed down by a 13% plunge in SoftBank Group’s shares, after a media report suggested OpenAI could hold off going public until next year. South Korea’s Kospi index, which includes Samsung and SK Hynix, dropped almost 6%. In the U.S., Micron fell almost 7%, reversing some of the memory-chip maker’s gains after Wednesday’s blockbuster earnings report. The PHLX semiconductor index dropped about 5%, while the Roundhill Memory ETF fell 6.5%. Major U.S. indexes were down slightly. The Nasdaq fell 0.2% while the Dow industrials and S&P 500 each fell 0.1%.

Wordle players are facing one of the trickier puzzles of the week heading into Sunday, with a word that leans unusually hard on a single repeated letter. Here’s a full breakdown of Wordle #1835 for June 28, 2026, including hints for those still working through it and the complete answer for anyone ready to check their guess.

What is Wordle?

Wordle is the daily word-guessing game created by Josh Wardle and now owned and operated by The New York Times. Players get six attempts to identify a secret five-letter word, with color-coded tiles offering feedback after every guess: green for a correct letter in the correct position, yellow for a correct letter in the wrong position, and gray for a letter that doesn’t appear in the word at all. A new puzzle resets at midnight local time, giving players one shot per day at extending their personal win streak.

Why Sunday’s puzzle is unusually difficult

According Wordle coverage, Sunday’s puzzle stands out specifically because it relies heavily on one letter doing most of the work. That structure can throw off players who default to opening words built around a variety of different vowels and consonants, since today’s answer narrows the field considerably once that one key letter is identified. Anyone looking to refresh their go-to starting word can consult letter-frequency guides that track which letters appear most often across the English language, a useful tool for building an opener that maximizes early information.

Hints for today’s puzzle, without giving it away

For solvers who want to take a swing at the puzzle themselves before reading further, here are five hints published alongside today’s answer, presented in order from broad to specific.

The first hint concerns repeated letters: today’s word contains one letter that repeats, and it shows up three separate times within the five letters.

The second hint narrows things down further by addressing vowels: the puzzle contains only one vowel total, and that vowel is the same letter that repeats three times.

The third hint reveals the word’s first letter: today’s answer begins with E.

The fourth hint reveals the word’s last letter: today’s answer also ends with E.

The fifth and final hint points toward the word’s meaning: the answer can refer to a person who serves as the master of ceremonies at an event, guiding guests through a program of performances, speeches or other proceedings.

Today’s Wordle answer: EMCEE

For players ready to see the solution, or who have already used up their six guesses, the answer to Wordle #1835 for Sunday, June 28, 2026, is EMCEE.

The word fits every hint listed above precisely. It begins and ends with E, contains exactly one vowel, that same letter E, repeated a total of three times across its five letters, with the consonants M and C filling out the remaining two spots. EMCEE is a clipped form of the initials “M.C.,” referring to a master of ceremonies, and functions as both a noun describing that role and a verb describing the act of hosting or presenting an event.

Players who guessed words containing a heavy concentration of E’s, such as EERIE, ETHEE-style attempts, or even words like EXCEL or ELDER, may have picked up valuable feedback pointing toward the unusual letter distribution before landing on the correct answer.

Yesterday’s answer for comparison

For context on how the puzzle has trended over recent days, yesterday’s Wordle, puzzle #1834 for Saturday, June 27, was SCOOP — a word centered on a double letter as well, though structured quite differently than Sunday’s answer, with two O’s rather than a triple-repeated vowel.

A look back at the past week of answers

Word-game enthusiasts tracking recent trends can review the full run of answers from the past several days. The Wordle answer for June 23, puzzle #1830, was CURRY. The following day, June 24, puzzle #1831, was QUEER. On June 25, puzzle #1832 was UNITY, followed by ACUTE for puzzle #1833 on June 26, and SCOOP for puzzle #1834 on June 27, leading into Sunday’s EMCEE for puzzle #1835.

Strategy tips for tackling tricky puzzles like this one

Word-game strategists generally recommend that players faced with an unusually letter-light puzzle, such as one relying on a single repeated vowel, avoid wasting early guesses on words that test multiple different vowels at once. Instead, once a pattern of repeated letters becomes apparent through yellow or green tiles, players are better served narrowing their next guess to words consistent with that specific repetition rather than continuing to explore unrelated letter combinations.

Common opening words used by experienced Wordle players, such as ADIEU, ARISE, OUIJA or CRANE, are generally chosen because they test a wide spread of frequently used vowels and consonants in a single guess, helping quickly establish which letters belong in the day’s answer before the harder process of placement begins. For a puzzle like Sunday’s, however, recognizing early that a single vowel is repeated multiple times can be the key insight that unlocks the rest of the word far faster than continuing to guess broadly.

What’s next for Wordle players

The next puzzle, Wordle #1836, will go live at midnight local time heading into Monday, June 29, resetting the board for players working to maintain or rebuild their streaks. Players looking for additional daily puzzle help can also find ongoing coverage of The New York Times’ other games, including the Mini Crossword, Connections, the sports-themed Connections variant, and Strands, each of which follows its own midnight reset schedule and offers a different style of daily challenge for word-game enthusiasts.

Whether solved as a quick morning ritual or shared competitively among friends and family through screenshotted results, Wordle continues to draw a dedicated daily audience, and Sunday’s EMCEE adds one more entry to an archive of answers that now stretches well past 1,800 puzzles since the game’s original release.

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