Portugal vs Morocco and it was that man Ronaldo who started this game as he finished his last one against Spain, by scoring. Against Spain, Ronaldo scored after four minutes and he did it again after the same amount of time against Morocco, although after that the African side were much the better team. They dominated the first-half and Portugal just looked all over the place although Gonçalo Guedes did have a superb chance to make it 2-0 but was denied.
Morocco are out of the World Cup though, but it wasn’t without trying to score and although they didn’t create too much in open play they had chances from set-pieces. Unfortunately, unlike Portugal in the first-half they were unable to score the chances they had. Portugal were average overall in this game and weren’t even good to watch but they’ve got the job done against a Morocco side that gave it everything, but are clearly missing a striker to get on the end of things. Morocco now have only pride to play for but they’ll be desperate to score against Spain.
Portugal 1–0 Morocco
Ronaldo Goal 4′
Next fixtures for Portugal & Morocco:
Monday June 25th: Iran v Portugal (Group B) – Saransk, 7pm
Monday June 25th: Spain v Morocco (Group B) – Kaliningrad, 7pm
Uruguay vs Saudi Arabia and after leaving it late against Egypt to get the win, Uruguay were hoping for a much easier game against a Saudi Arabia team thumped 5-0 by Russia in the opening game of World Cup. It didn’t take Uruguay as long to take the lead in this match when that man Suarez scored from a few yards out when he tapped in with his left foot from a corner.
Suarez was making this 100th appearance for Uruguay and he was their main threat throughout the game but he couldn’t manage a second to finish off the game. Saudi Arabia meanwhile tried and although they had more shots on target than in the match against Russia where they had none, they never really troubled Fernando Muslera in the Uruguayan goal. Uruguay are into the last sixteen but Saudi Arabia will be going home with Egypt.
Uruguay 1–0 Saudi Arabia
Suárez Goal 23′
Next fixtures for Uruguay & Saudi Arabia:
Monday June 25th: Uruguay v Russia (Group A) – Samara, 3pm
Monday June 25th: Saudi Arabia v Egypt (Group A) – Volgograd, 3pm
Iran vs Spain and going into the game, one of the these teams just needed to win the match and they were into the knockout stages. Surprisingly though, that team wasn’t Spain. The Spanish were only on a point after their draw with Portugal last Friday, so the pressure was certainly on Spain to get the win in this game and they of course were odds on to do so. Iran did not make it easy for them though with a tremendous defensively display by their back four defenders.
That’s not to say Iran did not have their chances to score as they certainly did. Iran hit the side netting, had a goal disallowed for off-side after a review by VAR as well as a few other half-chances. Spain had all the ball and just kept going and although they had chances, Iran manager Carlos Queiroz had his Iran team well drilled. Spain did get the win though when a defensive tackle on Diego Costa hit the Atletico Madrid striker’s leg and flew into the back of the net. Spain need to improve in the next game to qualify.
Iran 0–1 Spain
Costa Goal 54′
Next fixtures for Iran & Spain:
Monday June 25th: Iran v Portugal (Group B) – Saransk, 7pm
Monday June 25th: Spain v Morocco (Group B) – Kaliningrad, 7pm
