Uruguay Battle Saudi Arabia, Draw 1-1 in Miami
- Ronan Briscoe
- Jun 17
- 2 min read
Credit Sofascore
NATIONAL SOCCER NEWS: www.nationalsoccernetwork.com
Miami, Florida will be the site of two of Uruguay's three World Cup group stage games, and despite reported travel issues, they did arrive in South Beach in plenty of time to prepare for the opening game of their tournament, as they faced off with Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis, of course, have a taste for taking down South American competition in the World Cup, after defeating eventual winners Argentina 2-1 to open their group slate in 2022. They're also tested recently against good competition, having competed in both the CONCACAF Gold Cup and the FIFA Arab Cup in 2025. In those tournaments, Saudi Arabia posted a 1-0-4 record against teams that qualified for this World Cup. Despite that less than ideal record, the Saudis arrived prepared, and took the game to Uruguay.
All in all, it was a very even first half, and near the whistle that would signal the teams back to the locker rooms, Abdulelah Al Amri would break the deadlock in the 41st minute off a rebound. This meant that whatever team talk Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa had prepared was to be thrown in the trash.
However, the improvised talk he gave clearly had the intended effect. After the interval, it was all Uruguay, and that might be putting it lightly.
Despite the tidal wave of light blue shirts crashing down on his goal, 34-year old Al-Ula goalkeeper Mohammed Al Owais remained resolute, ending up with nine saves. Unfortunately for the Saudis, that was one too few.
In the 80th minute, 26-year old Sporting winger Maxi Araújo found the equalizer, and this only further galvanized the two-time World Cup winners, and the pressure remained inside the Saudi box. In the end, a point was to be shared on a day that saw an incredible four draws in World Cup play, only the second day in the history of the tournament where this has happened.
The stats showcase the overall Uruguayan dominance, with the South American nation out shooting Saudi Arabia 27 to 7, and putting ten on target to the Saudis' three. Uruguay also took an incredible 41 touches inside the Saudi penalty area. All that dominance, and statistics that look remarkably similar to Spain's nil-all draw with Cape Verde, only for the two favorites to advance from this group to each leave with just one point.
Group H is back in action on Sunday, June 21st, with Spain and Saudi Arabia kicking off from Atlanta at noon Eastern, and Uruguay facing Cape Verde at 6PM Eastern in Miami.
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