World Cup highlights: Saudi Arabia denied shock win and Iran fight back

Listen to an audio version of this article on Spotify

Flashscore brings you the best of the tournament in our daily World Cup highlights throughout the competition, so you don’t miss anything important.

Catch up with day five right here.

The headlines

The biggest story of the day came early on, where European champions Spain were held to a 0-0 draw by Cape Verde. Vozinha (more on him later) was instrumental for the islanders in goal, as he kept a clean sheet for a historic point on their World Cup debut.

That opened up Group H for both Saudi Arabia and Uruguay; however, the pair played out an enthralling 1-1 draw in Miami. Saudi Arabia, who famously beat eventual World Cup winners Argentina four years ago, smelt another South American scalp after Abdulelah Al Amri poked home the opener, only for Maxi Araujo to salvage a point for Uruguay late on.

The other two games of the day came from Group G. The two heavy hitters, Belgium and Egypt, met in Seattle, and it was the Pharaohs who struck first through Emam Ashour. Belgium huffed and puffed through much of the contest and needed Romelu Lukaku to come off the bench to help them earn a 1-1 draw. His run into the box forced Egypt's Mohamed Hany to turn the ball into his own net.

That left the chance for either New Zealand or Iran to top the group by the end of the day as they met in Los Angeles.

New Zealand took the lead twice, both goals coming from Elijah Just, but Iran were valiant in front of a partisan crowd to level on both occasions, meaning every team in the group goes into the second matchday with one point.

Goal of the day

You'd be forgiven for believing that when Egypt scored against Belgium, it would be Omar Marmoush or Mohamed Salah with a pearler, but another name took the spotlight in Seattle.

Emam Ashour has been a star in Egypt's domestic league over the last few years and has now shown the world what he is capable of on the world stage.

Fed by Salah, the Al Ahly midfielder received the ball on his right foot before cannoning an effort past Thibaut Courtois to open the scoring against Belgium.

His celebration gave a sense of nonchalance, interrupted by an unceremonious shove to the floor from Ziko - not that he was too bothered by it.

Player of the day

We had to wait until late in the day, but Iran's 36-year-old Ramin Rezaeian produced one of the games of his life to see his Iran remain unbeaten at this World Cup.

The right-back turned into a poacher for Iran's first goal before setting up the second, allowing Mohammad Mohebi to level for the second time for Iran.

The goal and the assist helped him earn a 9.0 rating using Flashscore's new-and-improved ratings system, but his defensive work was also valuable.

He won eight of his nine duels against New Zealand's attackers, whilst showing his creative force with eight of 10 accurate passes into the final third.

Best of social media

Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha started the day with 46,000 Instagram followers, but by the end of it, that number had skyrocketed well into the millions.

It's been a long journey of sweat and toil to reach the World Cup for the keeper. He has played in Cyprus, Slovakia and Portugal, amongst others, in a career that has featured it all, but his performance against Spain may just be his best.

The enormity of this tournament and his performance was seen afterwards, when his following had reached north of five million.

On air, during the post-match press conferences, he was shown the new count - then just a 'meagre' two million - and his reaction was priceless.

Brand deals should be incoming for the World Cup's newest cult hero.

The biggest shame for him was that his mother could not be there to witness it. In a post-match interview, he said that she was not able to join him in the USA due to visa costs - a heartbreaking admission and a telling reminder that this edition of the World Cup was not made for everyone.