World Cup drama unfolds: Group H chaos, star players benched, Dua Lipa crashes presser

The World Cup's group stage delivered its share of theater on Thursday, and nowhere was the drama thicker than in Group H, where the final whistle brought both celebration and heartbreak in the span of minutes. Cabo Verde and Saudi Arabia were locked at nothing-nothing, the African side pressing hard but unable to break through. What mattered, though, was what was happening simultaneously in Guadalajara: Spain against Uruguay, with a one-goal Spanish lead holding as the clock wound down. The Cabo Verde players huddled around a phone, streaming the match, watching their World Cup fate unfold on a screen. When Uruguay's Agustin Canobbia launched himself into Pau Cubarsi with a tackle so reckless the referee had no choice but to produce a red card, it was over. Uruguay's tournament ended in chaos and recrimination. Cabo Verde's was just beginning.

The buildup to that match had been ugly. Uruguay's coach Marcelo Bielsa, reportedly the subject of a player revolt during the week, had made drastic moves at halftime, yanking goalkeeper Fernando Muslera and star midfielder Federico Valverde from the pitch. What followed was a descent into cynicism: tackles flying in, two shocking fouls on Spanish teenagers Pedri and Lamine Yamal that drew only yellow cards. By the time Canobbia's red came in injury time, the match had become less a game of football than a statement of dysfunction.

Elsewhere, the question of how to manage elite players in a compressed tournament schedule was splitting the coaching fraternity. Norway's Ståle Solbakken benched Erling Haaland and nine other regulars for a group-stage match, accepting a 4-1 loss as the price of keeping his best players fresh. The turnaround to the knockout round was brutal—just days between matches—and Solbakken was unapologetic. "The break that we had from the last game to this game is the shortest of any team, and we have another match in just a couple of days, so it's a no-brainer," he said. Hours later came word that Argentina would start Lionel Messi on the bench for their final group game against Jordan. The strategy was becoming a pattern among the tournament's strongest teams.

But not everyone agreed. Portugal's Roberto Martinez, now at his third World Cup, had learned through experience that squad rotation could only take you so far. Winning mattered more than managing fatigue. "I believe that the focus should be trying to win every game, trying to create the best possible atmosphere in your dressing room," he said. "If you want to do well in the tournament, you have to be able to beat everybody and anybody." It was a philosophical divide playing out in real time, with no clear winner yet.

The day's lighter moment came during Martinez's pre-match press conference, when the stadium's sound system suddenly erupted with Dua Lipa's music. For several minutes, the Grammy winner's songs blared through the interview room as journalists laughed and workers scrambled to kill the audio. Some wires had gotten crossed during a rehearsal elsewhere in the stadium. Martinez swayed in his chair, unbothered. "Dua Lipa's supporting Portugal, I believe," he said with a smile.

Sweden's path to the knockout round came via a 1-1 draw with Japan, a result that should have been cause for celebration. Anthony Elanga's equalizer secured the point needed to advance, but the striker didn't know it. Believing Sweden needed a win, he collapsed on the pitch in frustration as the final whistle blew, even pulling up with cramp as he tried to push for a second goal. His teammate Alexander Isak had to scold him for the effort. "He got a little scolding from me there," Isak said. "He was a little frustrated at the end of the match, and you can understand that now." Elanga admitted he hadn't heard his teammates shouting the news. Coach Graham Potter could only shake his head with affection at the confusion. "It couldn't have been any clearer for him," he said.

In Panama's camp, frustration boiled over in a different way. Striker Cecilio Waterman and midfielder José Luis Rodríguez had a brief physical confrontation during training ahead of their Group L match against England, with Waterman pushing Rodríguez in the chest before teammates separated them. Coach Thomas Christiansen framed it as a positive sign—evidence that players were fighting for spots in the starting eleven. "This is a normal situation," he said. "I would have liked to see these situations more often in the training. That means the team is alive." Whether that interpretation would hold up if another scuffle broke out remained to be seen.