Colombia and Portugal draw 0-0, Messi scores in Argentina win

Colombia and Portugal played a scoreless match in Miami that looked ready for a goal from the first whistle to the last, but FIFA recorded 36 total shots and not one found the net. Colombia still finished first in Group K, Portugal advanced in second, and both teams moved on with their knockout-stage paths defined by the margins that separated a high-quality contest from a deciding finish.

Colombia carried real authority through the group stage, arriving to the Portugal match after beating Uzbekistan and Congo DR. Against Portugal, Colombia again showed the organization and discipline of a side built for the next round, then came closest to breaking through in added time when Davinson Sánchez headed in what looked like the winner from a Juan Quintero delivery. The linesman’s flag cut it down for offside. Diogo Costa, who kept Portugal alive when the pressure rose, was named Player of the Match.

The draw also carried a clean statistical marker for Colombia: it was the first goalless tie in the country’s World Cup history, coming in its 25th match at the tournament. That record says as much about Colombia’s resilience as it does about the game’s attacking edge. Colombia controlled the kind of fine details that usually decide knockout football, but the last touch never arrived. Portugal, for its part, did enough to advance, yet left Miami with more questions than certainty after being pinned in a match it could not settle.

The next round now turns quickly. Portugal will face Croatia in Toronto on July 3, and Colombia will meet Ghana in Kansas City on July 4. For both sides, the draw suggested they are ready to compete, but only Colombia looked fully composed across the full stretch of the match, even if the final finish was missing.

Argentina offered the sharper benchmark in Dallas, where Lionel Messi came off the bench and scored his sixth goal of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in a 3-1 win over Jordan. Reuters noted that Messi became the first player to score in seven consecutive World Cup matches, and Argentina closed the group stage with a perfect record. If Colombia’s draw showed maturity and Portugal’s showed survival, Argentina’s result was the clearest sign of a team that looks most complete entering the knockout phase.