Uruguay players walk from the field following the World Cup Group H soccer match between Uruguay and Cape Verde in Miami Gardens, Fla., Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MIAMI GARDENS, Florida — Uruguay is off to a start many did not expect. After draws against Saudi Arabia and Cape Verde, and with a match against Spain still to come, the two-time World Cup winner is at risk of missing the knockout stage.

Among the many fans watching was someone the team looked to for goals for more than 15 years: Luis Suárez.

The matches were played in Miami Stadium, near where Suárez serves as striker for Inter Miami. The 39-year-old watched from above as Uruguay struggled despite being heavily favored.

READ: Uruguay’s Luis Suarez announces retirement from international football

Suárez ended his international career in 2024 as the all-time leading scorer for the national team with 69 goals in 143 appearances. He was ultimately left off coach Marcelo Bielsa’s squad after months of speculation.

After the match, Bielsa spoke about the team’s inability to capitalize on some of its advantages.

“I think that the problem or greatest issue is that we started the second half with the ball and with the victory,” Bielsa said through a translator after Sunday’s game. “And it was at that moment that we didn’t close it. We didn’t make any danger.”

Bielsa claimed his team “lacked a finishing touch” in Sunday night’s draw. Something that Suárez once delivered in his time with Uruguay.

Fans of Uruguay recognized how difficult it can be to replace a player of Suárez’s caliber.

“(I have) mixed feelings to be honest,” Uruguay supporter Frederico Suárez said. “He’s old and now it’s time for the younger players. But he’s a good player, maybe the best player I’ve ever watched with Uruguay.”

READ: World Cup: Salah, Egypt down New Zealand, 3-1, for first win

In April, Luis Suárez announced he was willing to come out of retirement to play for Uruguay in the World Cup. The announcement fueled speculation that Uruguay’s star could make one final appearance on soccer’s biggest stage. Bielsa instead placed his faith in Uruguay’s next attacking generation, also excluding veteran striker Edinson Cavani from his roster.

“I feel like he’s a little older, so for players like Darwin (Núñez), I think it just gives him a little bit more of a chance to shine,” Uruguay fan Ian Lancaster said.

In its first World Cup match without Suárez since 2010, Uruguay narrowly avoided an upset against Saudi Arabia with the team’s only goal coming late from midfielder Maxi Araújo. Nuñez and Federico Viñas led the front line but were largely ineffective.

Bielsa chose a different lineup Sunday night, starting only Viñas to lead the attack. Midfielder Agustín Canobbio was added to the starting lineup against Cape Verde and made a difference, scoring Uruguay’s second goal.

It was Canobbio’s narrow miss in the second half, however, that could have given Uruguay a much-needed victory.

Suárez and Bielsa clashed after the 2024 Copa América when Suárez criticized Bielsa for the negative environment he had created under his leadership. Now, Bielsa and the Uruguay team will face further pressure to secure a win with an attack that has yet to dispel concerns.

All eyes will be on Uruguay on Friday as they travel to Guadalajara Stadium for a match against Spain.

“Our expectations with Uruguay now is that we never know,” Uruguay fan Alfonso Aguel said. “We need to play every match, go match by match, and see what actually happens.”

Mohamed Salah scored the go-ahead goal and Egypt went on to defeat New Zealand 3-1 on Sunday night and secure their first-ever World Cup win. Salah celebrated his 68th international goal by pumping his fist before he was mobbed by his teammates in the 67th minute, to the thrill of the red-clad Pharaohs fans in the sellout crowd at BC Place Vancouver. When Salah was subbed off in the 85th minute he was treated to a standing ovation. Egypt moved to the top of the standings in Group G with the win, but was not yet assured a spot in the knockout round. The Pharaohs will play a deciding game against Iran on Friday in Seattle, needing at least a draw to advance.

Egypt is making its fourth World Cup appearance after missing the field in Qatar four years ago. Salah scored a pair of goals in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Finn Surman put New Zealand in front in the 15th minute with a flying header off a corner kick delivered by Instagram sensation Tim Payne. It was the third international goal for the 6-foot-3 defender who plays for the Portland Timbers in MLS.

Omar Marmoush dropped a free kick off to Salah in the 35th minute but it went just wide and bent into the side netting.

Egypt turned up the pressure coming out of the half and Mostafa Zico broke through with equalizer, finding space between Surman and Payne for a header that goalkeeper Max Crocombe got a hand on but couldn’t stop in the 58th minute. Zico celebrated by gesturing for the fans in the crowd to cheer.

Salah took a back-heel pass from Zico for his goal, which puts him just one away from tying his coach Hossam Hassan for the national team’s all-time scoring lead. Trezeguet’s diving header wrapped up scoring for Egypt in the 82nd.

Egypt’s Hamdy Fathy was subbed off late in the first half after an apparent injury away from the ball. He was replaced by Ramy Rabia.

In the opener against Belgium, Emam Ashour scored the early goal for Egypt but then Romelu Lukaku subbed into the match and caused chaos in the box, resulting in an own goal for a 1-1 draw.

New Zealand twice took the lead against Iran in their group opener, only to cede it for a 2-2 draw in the end. Elijah Just scored both goals for the All Whites.

New Zealand previously appeared at the World Cup in 2010 and drew all three of its games.

Iran and Belgium played to a scoreless draw earlier in the day in Inglewood, California, giving both teams two straight draws at the tournament. New Zealand returns to Vancouver on Friday to face Belgium.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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It has not always been easy for a neutral observer to get behind Adrien Rabiot, whose dependency on the pitch has been repeatedly concealed by a curious, maddening penchant for irritating coaches, clubs and team-mates as much as opponents.

Yet if France are to reach an unprecedented third straight final, and wrest back the trophy from Argentina’s grasp, Didier Deschamps needs his team’s maligned midfield mainstay to keep pursuing what seems a neverending path to proving critics wrong.

Rabiot has come a long way from emailing Deschamps eight years ago to say he would not accept a place on the standby list for the 2018 World Cup in which Les Bleus ground their way to glory. Not long after that he was jettisoned by Paris Saint-Germain because of a dispute in which his mother and agent, Veronique, was infamously prominent.

But Rabiot began to grow at Juventus, leading to Andrea Pirlo, who served as head coach of the Old Lady for a spell, to declare him as a “complete” midfielder who could combine the technical and physical side of the game. High praise from one of the great purveyors of the former who struggled with the latter.

Gradually, Rabiot clawed his way back to the national team set-up and by Qatar was a crucial cog on the path to the greatest World Cup final of all, though he missed the last-four win against Morocco owing to illness.

Now Rabiot is one of Deschamps’ key lieutenants, among the cleanest players to carry out the dirty work, and a figure who is clearly more appreciated by his present team-mates than many of those who have gone before – not least former Marseille colleague Jonathan Rowe, with whom he had a changing room scrap that led to both players being sold last year.

“A guy with incredible resilience,” Kylian Mbappe said of Rabiot before the tournament got underway. “No matter what gets said about him, what happens to him, the guy’s always there. He’s weathered storms and gales and, when you look at his career, his CV speaks for itself.”

It is still missing a World Cup. But if Mbappe is to win his second, the leading star knows the less flashy presence two rows behind will be relied on intensely.

Maybe not against Iraq in Philadelphia on Monday night but from the group closer against Norway on Friday and into the knockout stages, it should become increasingly clear that this iteration of the fraternité is far more than the front four.

For all the criticism of Deschamps’ vague philosophy he has always considered balance a central tenet of all gameplans. So by committing to such a luxurious attack, the emphasis on Rabiot and Aurelien Tchouameni to bring control behind the chaos is even greater than before.

“With Aurelien, we need to maintain this balance,” Rabiot said before the tournament began. “We’re not restricted by the coach but, in this setup, we need to find the right adjustments with the four key attacking players who can make the difference.”

The early signs are promising. Rabiot’s pass to Bradley Barcola for France’s second against Senegal was exquisite, among the assists of the tournament to date, and he got through the standard pile of unseen work against an opponent whose mobility would upset plenty of teams.

There is an elegance to Rabiot that has often been overlooked by the perception of him being a workhorse; a misreading no doubt enhanced by him sharing a pitch with some of the game’s most thrilling forwards.

His physical capacity perhaps limits the appreciation of the technical side too. A team in which a gifted centre-forward has been fairly criticised for an unrivalled lack of work ethic off the ball requires the rest to be committed.

Deschamps knows that in Rabiot he can place unwavering faith to keep running, keep battling and keep trying – even if his inclusion seems destined to be forever questioned.

Cristiano Ronaldo in action© AFP

India Women captain Harmanpreet Kaur lamented the team’s missed chances in the field after their six-wicket defeat to South Africa in the 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup, admitting that the dropped catches proved costly. Defending 158/7, India endured a disappointing outing in the field, missing a potential chance off Tazmin Brits when she was on 18 and giving Marizanne Kapp two reprieves on 25 and 65 through substitute fielder Radha Yadav. The South African pair capitalised on the opportunities, with Kapp remaining unbeaten on 81 to guide her side to a victory and hand India their first loss of the tournament.

After the match, Harmanpreet said India’s dropped catches proved costly, as the team failed to capitalise on key opportunities in the field. While she praised the bowling efforts of Shree Charani and Shafali Verma, she noted that the lack of support from the fielders hurt India’s chances.

“We got a couple of chances in between, but couldn’t take those chances. We have two matches and this is the time to stay positive. Shree Charani and Shafali bowled well but the fielders didn’t support them. We have to take opportunities at this level. We were not lucky enough with that. We have two matches and this is the time to think about that. We will sit and rethink about what to do and then will see the changes to be done. [On Kapp] She took the game away from us. She gave us two chances and those were the crucial moments and that took the game away from us,” the Indian captain said in the post-match presentation.

Harmanpreet said the defeat offered several lessons and positives, stressing the importance of staying strong and maintaining a positive mindset.

“Lots of learning, lots of positive moments and lots of moments where I have to stay strong. Now is the time to stay positive and think what to do in the upcoming games. Hopefully, we come up better in the next games,” she said.

India will next lock horns against Bangladesh on June 25 before facing off against Australia on June 28.

Coming to the match, Marizanne Kapp starred with both bat and ball as South Africa defeated India by six wickets in the Women’s T20 World Cup in Manchester. Kapp first claimed 2/27 to help restrict India to 158/7 before smashing an unbeaten 81 to guide her side to 161/4 in 19.1 overs.

India made a strong start through Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma, but regular wickets prevented them from capitalising. Shafali top-scored with 31, while Deepti Sharma made 29 and captain Harmanpreet Kaur scored 24 in her 200th T20I appearance.

In reply, South Africa were reduced to 25/2 after a brilliant spell from Sree Charani, but Kapp and Tazmin Brits (40) added 97 runs to revive the chase. Kapp then finished the job in style, helping South Africa complete their highest successful chase in Women’s T20 World Cup history and hand India their first defeat of the tournament. The victory lifted South Africa to third place in Group A, while India remained second.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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