Key events
Kick-off!
Sam Lewis
Centre referee Adham Makhadmen, who refereed Cape Verde’s famous 0-0 draw against Spain, blows his whistle and we’re underway!
Before kick-off, both teams and the referees gather for a moment’s silence to pay respect to the lives lost in Venezuela following the recent devastating earthquakes.
While we get an extreme close-up of New Zealand striker Chris Wood getting a bit emotional while singing his country’s anthem in what could very well be his last ever World Cup, what’s your tip for today’s match?
Can New Zealand follow in Cape Verde’s steps and cause a massive upset? Or will Belgium find the gear they’ve been missing and sail through to the knock-outs?
Send me an email! samantha.lewis.freelance@guardian.co.uk
The teams have gathered around the centre-circle ready for the anthems. New Zealand are, as their name foreshadows, wearing All White, while Belgium are in their traditional home kit of red jersey with black shorts and black socks.
Sam Lewis
New World Cup celebrity Tim Payne starts once again for New Zealand today, and a stand-out performance will only add out his extremely funny rise to stardom.
Take a read below of how the tournament’s least-known player became an overnight sensation thanks to… an Argentinian influencer?
Sam Lewis
Speaking of, who is 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.
And who has been eliminated?
Czechia, Qatar, Haiti, Turkey, Curaçao, Tunisia, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Panama.
Sam Lewis
Not all matches on this final day are as straight-forward as this one, though. Fifa’s new head-to-head ruling has created unusual situations where some teams are heading into their final games already eliminated from the World Cup, regardless of their final results.
Yesterday, for example, we saw Turkey defeat hosts USA 3-2 in an ultimately inconsequential 90 minutes, while tomorrow England will face Panama (eliminated) and Argentina take on Jordan (eliminated).
Elsewhere, as the folks at Guardian Football Weekly discussed recently, some potentially unfair advantages have emerged where some nations enter their final match day with more information than others, which could affect how they go about their games.
In Japan’s final group game against Sweden yesterday, both sides took to the field knowing that whichever of them won would finish runner-up and therefore face Brazil in the next round.
Similarly, tomorrow’s match between Algeria and Austria will see two teams perhaps trying not to win because the winner will have to take on Spain.
What have you made of Fifa’s new format? Has the head-to-head deciding factor created a better spectacle, or has it taken the drama and jeopardy out of this final match day?
Send me an email and/or listen to the Guardian team discussing the ramifications below:
Sam Lewis
New Zealand, meanwhile, will be kicking themselves for not taking more from their ultimate 3-1 loss against Egypt. An excellent headed goal to Finn Surman in the 15th minute epitomised the All Whites’ dominant first-half display, staying compact and disciplined in defence and charging forward with direct long balls and overlaps in attack.
But Egypt, led by their talismanic captain Mohamed Salah, came roaring back in the second half, coming from behind to score three unanswered goals and rocket to the top of the group as a result.
New Zealand head coach Darren Bazeley rued his side’s poor second-half display, especially after showing such promise in the first.
If they start today’s match against Belgium similarly, they’ll need to find some deeper resilience to maintain their momentum all the way to the final whistle.
“It’s frustrating,” Bazeley said after the Egypt match. “We played so well in the first half. We scored a great goal, created lots of chances, felt like we were dominating possession a lot of the time in the first half, and we were comfortable. We weren’t really getting hurt.
“We talked well at half-time, looked at some things we can do a little bit better, we went out second half and we just weren’t able to recreate the tempo and quality that we showed in the first half.”
Sam Lewis
Belgium will have to improve if they are to win today’s match against a plucky New Zealand and secure their spot in the round of 32.
They currently sit 10th out of the 12 third-placed teams, with only the top 8 progressing to the knock-outs.
As Ben Fisher wrote in his match report after their 0-0 draw against Iran:
Their record at major tournaments now reads two wins from their past nine matches, one from their past six, against Romania at Euro 2024. They have had a total of 38 shots in their opening two games in the US without scoring themselves, their sole goal coming courtesy of the Egypt defender Mohamed Hany. They missed the energy of Jérémy Doku, who was absent through illness, while Romelu Lukaku, making his first start for club or country for more than 12 months, huffed and puffed in attack.
Head coach Rudi Garcia certainly sees today’s match as a must-win for his underperforming side, though I’m not sure the cycling metaphor is instilling the kind of confidence he thinks it is:
Sometimes when you have to win, sometimes that’s the best situation. Obviously we had wished to start better. But, just like cyclists, we have to keep pedalling on and on and show we deserve to move on to the round of 32.
Belgium XI
Sam Lewis
Five changes for Belgium after their frustrating 0-0 draw against Iran.
Timothy Castagne replaces Thomas Meunier at right-back, while Arthur Theate starts at centre-back in place of the red-carded Nathan Ngoy.
Hans Vanaken comes into midfield instead of Nicolas Raskin, Jeremy Doku is back in the starting team to replace Alexis Saelemaekers, and Charles De Ketelaere is up front in place of Romelu Lukaku.
Belgium XI (4-2-3-1): Courtois; De Cuyper, Theate, Mechele, Castagne; Tielemans, Vanaken; Doku, De Bruyne, Trossard; De Ketelaere.
New Zealand XI
Sam Lewis
Two changes for New Zealand’s team from their loss to Egypt: Tyler Bindon starts at centre-back in place of the highly experienced Michael Boxall, while Callum McCowatt makes way for Ryan Thomas in midfield.
New Zealand XI (4-2-3-1) Crocombe; Payne, Surman, Bindon, Cacace; Stamenic, Bell; Thomas, Singh, Just; Wood.
Sam Lewis
So, what happens next?
Belgium will guarantee qualification to the next round with a win against New Zealand, while New Zealand need to beat Belgium to sneak into third spot in Group G (and hope Iran lose to Egypt to potentially leapfrog them into second).
In today’s simultaneous game, Egypt will guarantee qualification with a draw or a win against Iran, while Iran will qualify if they defeat Egypt.
The winner of Group G will then face the third-placed team from one of Group A, H, I or J (which at this stage could be one of South Korea, Senegal, or Algeria)
The runner-up of Group G will play the runner-up of Group D, Australia
If the third-placed team from Group G qualifies for the round of 32, they’ll take on the winner of either Group B (Switzerland) or Group I (France)
Sam Lewis
Turning our attention back to today’s match, New Zealand v Belgium could create history in more ways than one, depending on which team comes out on top.
For New Zealand, a win against Belgium would not only be the biggest win in the All Whites’ World Cup history, but it would be their first ever World Cup win full stop.
This is just the third tournament appearance for the World Cup’s lowest-ranked nation (86th) after they qualified first in 1982 and again in 2010.
They lost every game in that first rodeo, but it was in South Africa that they recorded arguably their greatest World Cup result to date, a 1-1 draw against Italy, whom they leapfrogged to finish third (which was, coincidentally, Italy’s last tournament appearance).
A win against world number 9 Belgium today could catapult this exciting young group of Kiwis to new, historic heights.
Belgium, meanwhile, are hoping to avoid making a different kind of history. This is their 13th World Cup tournament, having debuted at the first edition in 1930 and been a regular presence since, with their best ever finish coming in Russia 2018 (3rd).
But the team has slowly regressed since then with a shock group stage exit in Qatar 2022 and a round of 16 defeat at the 2024 men’s Euros.
If they lose today’s match, it will be the first time in the country’s almost century-long World Cup history that they’ve failed to make it out of the group stage in back-to-back tournaments.
After today’s incredible Cape Verde result, it feels like anything is possible.
History for Cape Verde!!!
The World Cup’s smallest nation has qualified for the round of 32 after a third successive draw, holding Saudi Arabia to 0-0 in Houston, Texas.
As soon as the full-time whistle blew, the players sprinted to the sideline to gather around the phones of their coaching staff who were following the live results of the other Group H match.
Slowly, as the full-time result began filtering around the stadium, the players exploded into joy: Spain 1-0 Uruguay.
Uruguay’s loss means the tiny island nation catapults up Group H and into second spot, making it through to the knock-out phase on their World Cup debut. Extraordinary.
It also means both Saudi Arabia and Uruguay, two nations who are hosting the next two World Cups, are OUT.
Cape Verde will now face title-holders Argentina in a true David v Goliath match.
In a nerve-jangling stalemate playing out at the moment, Cape Verde have leapfrogged Uruguay and landed in second spot in Group H while holding out Saudi Arabia. Find out whether the World Cup debutants will continue their journey, or whether Saudi Arabia can find a late goal to leap into second spot.
While we’re waiting for New Zealand and Belgium to draw closer, Uruguay are on the brink of a World Cup exit after falling behind against Spain. Follow along to find out whether they can find an equaliser to keep their last-32 dreams alive.
Preamble
Sam Lewis
Hello and welcome to the final match day of Group G with New Zealand taking on Belgium at BC Place in Vancouver. Kick-off for today’s match will be 8:00pm local time (11pm EDT/4am BST/1pm AEST).
This is the third and final match of Group G, with all four teams playing simultaneously to see who will qualify out of one of the tightest groups of this World Cup.
As it stands, just three points separate first from fourth, with Egypt (4) leading the group followed closely by Iran (2), Belgium (2), and New Zealand (1).
While a number of other fourth-placed teams have entered this final match day already eliminated thanks to Fifa’s new head-to-head ruling, there is still a ray of hope for New Zealand.
Their opening 2-2 draw against Iran, combined with Belgium’s two draws in their first two matches, means a win for the All Whites today could see them leapfrog the world number 10 and qualify for their first ever World Cup knock-outs.
Belgium, for their part, currently sit outside the best-ranked third-placed teams after two disappointing performances against Egypt (1-1) and Iran (0-0).
They will be particularly frustrated by their performance against Iran last week, which saw Nathan Ngoy receive a straight red card and a side stacked with stars fail to get past the stand-out Alireza Beiranvand in goal.
All of which is to say that both teams need a win today (though Belgium could settle for another draw) to progress to the round of 32.
Elsewhere, Egypt are also taking on Iran in Seattle to determine who could top the group and thus secure an easier opponent in the next stage. Jonathan Howcroft is leading that live blog here if you’d like to follow along with both.
