2026 World Cup: Cape Verde shocks the world and ruins parlays with a 0-0 tie against favorite Spain

The 2026 World Cup has seen some surprising results, but nothing more shocking that debutant Cape Verde holding Spain — one of the favorites to win it all — to a 0-0 draw on Monday in Atlanta.

Spain was around a -1200 favorite on the money line (92% implied probability) before the match at sportsbooks, with Cape Verde a 28-1 underdog. For reference, those were worse odds than Saudi Arabia (25-1 on ML) had before a 2-1 win over Argentina in the 2022 World Cup.

The draw was as high as 13-1 at some sportsbooks, and only 2% of the bets at BetMGM were on the draw.

One trader at Polymarket put $1 million on Spain the win the match against Cape Verde.

Spain to win was the most-bet World Cup wager on Monday at BetMGM, both by total wagers and total dollars, as many bettors had the Spaniards as part of their parlays. Nearly 95% of the handle at BetMGM was on Spain to win.

“From a trading perspective, this was a significant result for the trading floor, with Spain heavily backed by bettors across both straight bets and parlays,” Mark Bickerdike, head of soccer oat Caesars Sportsbook said in a text message.

Spain had 74% of the possession, outshot Cape Verde 23-6 and had an 11-1 advantage on corner kicks, but was unable to find the back of the net. Spain brought on superstar Lamine Yamal in the 71st minute — and while he helped to create more chances, he was unable to help La Roja break through.