La Roja produced a dominant performance against World Cup debutants Cape Verde for 90 minutes, but all to no avail, recording the first goalless draw of the 2026 FIFA tournament in Atlanta's state-of-the-art air-conditioned stadium.
Cape Verde, a nation of over 500,000 people, held out against Luis de la Fuente’s star-studded team, playing defensively and relying on few counterattacks that posed no major threat for most parts of the match.
The result leaves Cape Verde with a record debut, conceding no goals and earning a point in Group H, something that will reverberate in the nation's football.
Denied several times by the fiercely determined Cape Verdean goalie Vozinha, Spain kept up the intensity in the closing stages after bringing in Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams, but La Roja still could not find space for any major breakthrough in the middle to create clear chances, with shots from mid-range one of their main alternatives.
For his third and final change, the coach introduced Dani Olmo in place of Ferran Torres.
