World Cup
2026-06-26 - Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: World Cup Group H Match Day 3
Friday 26th June 2026 - Kick Off 7pm (CST)
British Time 1am
Cape Verde
After the battle to earn a draw with current European Champions and former World Champions Spain, Cape Verde showed a different side to their football in a 2-2 draw with former two time World Champion Uruguay. While that is not enough to secure passage into the Last 32, Cape Verde control their own destiny with a single Group game to play and that is all they could have asked for when noting the first two games to be played in North America.
The Blue Sharks led against Uruguay, but they showed tremendous character to fight back from 2-1 behind and the two points on the board means they are third in this Group. However, a win would mean finishing in the top two regardless of the other result in the Group, while Cape Verde fans will be taking a keen interest in how the earlier Groups end up shaping up.
With the right set of results, Cape Verde may be in a position where avoiding defeat would be enough to see them progress as one of the best third place finishers, although the focus will be to round out this section with a first ever World Cup Finals win. In the last fixture, Cape Verde actually had more shots on target than Uruguay and they will feel very worthy of the draw.
There have been key players who have taken part in both Group matches, but some of the attacking personnel were changed by Pedro Brito in the second match against Uruguay.
Predicted Line Up: Vozinha, Moreira, Cabral, Lopes, Borges, Pina, Duarte, Monteiro, Mendes, Varela and Livramento (4-1-4-1)
Saudi Arabia
The opening draw with Uruguay meant Saudi Arabia were always going to head into the final Group match with something to play for and that has turned out to be the case. A heavy defeat to Spain should not have dented the confidence too much, but the entire squad will want to make sure they are not as sloppy defensively in their bid to reach the Knock Out Stage for just the second time on the world stage.
If you had told Georgios Donis that his Saudi Arabia team would need to beat Cape Verde in order to earn a spot in the Last 32, you have to believe that he and the Football Association would have accepted the position. However, Saudi Arabia have much less wriggle room compared with the opponent and a draw is almost certainly going to spell elimination barring a number of permutations going their way.
No one in the Saudi Arabia camp can expect that to happen with a 4-0 defeat on the board and that means there is pressure on this team to come forward. Scoring just twenty-two goals in 18 World Cup Qualifiers has to be a concern for the manager even if this opposition may be a significant step down from the first two played.
Attention shifted to this final Group game by half time of the defeat to Spain and that allowed Georgios Donis to remove players that may be important to him on Thursday.
Predicted Line Up: Al-Owais, Abdulhamid, Al-Harbi, Al-Amri, Al-Tambakti, Al-Shamat, Al-Dawsari, Kanno, Al-Khaibari, Al-Brikan and Al-Juwayr (4-4-2)
Head to Head
This is the first meeting between these nations.
Prediction
When the draw for the World Cup Finals was made, both Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia may have felt that even a best third place finishing spot could be difficult if the opening two matches against Uruguay and Spain had gone as the Rankings would suggest.
Instead, Cape Verde have picked up two points and Saudi Arabia have one point and that means both teams go into the final Group match with every chance of making it through to the Last 32.
A win for either team should be enough- Saudi Arabia may have the fewest points in the Group going into the final round robin of fixtures, but four points should be enough for a best third place spot even if Uruguay upset Spain in the other game in the Group.
There is less room for error for Saudi Arabia with a draw likely to be good enough for Cape Verde, even if they finish third in this section, and that could allow the Asian Qualifiers to play with more freedom.
Saudi Arabia have to get forward, whereas Cape Verde may end up thinking about earning a draw if the time begins to tick down.
However, Georgios Donis will know his team need to find a way to be more threatening having struggled for goals in the Qualifying campaign and only having four shots on target in the opening two matches. That is a number that Cape Verde matched against Uruguay alone, although there is some indecision in the final third that shows the lack of experience of the Blue Sharks, especially at this kind of level.
Both teams would have taken being in a position where a win over the other would take them through to the Knock Out Stages of the World Cup Finals and that should be evident in the performance on the pitch.
Neither has been hugely convincing at the back, while the layers are finding it hard to get a read on the teams having opened up last week with Saudi Arabia as favourites, but now having Cape Verde in that position following the results last time out.
Picking a winner is tough, but they are playing under the roof in Houston and that should mean conditions are perfect.
There is an expectation that the match will begin with both teams looking to get forward and any goal in the first half could open this fixture up and provide plenty of drama. The pressure of what can be gained will do funny things to players who have simply not been in a position to reach the Knock Out Stages of a World Cup before and that may see mistakes made that could aid attackers.
The price on backing over 2.5 goals has shrunk in the last few days, but it is still at odds against and Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia may combine to reach at least three goals in a big game for both nations.
The Pick :
Cape Verde 2-1 Saudi Arabia
