Group B opened up its second round of group stage matches with Iran, who were on top of the table, taking on Spain. Earlier in the day, Morocco, who needed a positive result to stay alive, took on Portugal.
Morocco
Morocco stunned Portugal despite not getting the job done.
Portugal needed little time to settle on the field. Offense came early by the Europeans as Cristiano Ronaldo put them up on the scoreboard.
Ronaldo scored off a header putting Portugal up 1-0 at the 4th minute
Morocco eventually settled on the field, generating chances from corners and set pieces. While their offense was certainly slower than Portugal’s, it was very smooth for the most part. However, such offense could not translate into a goal as the Portuguese defense was solid enough inside the box to prevent the equalizer.
Goalkeeper Munir also denied the 2-0 lead to Portugal with a crucial save
Halftime came and Portugal was up, 1-0
Second Half
The second half showed a dominating Morocco once again. Their first opportunity to tie the score came at 55th minute as captain Medhi Benatia missed a shot at goal.
Moments after, goalkeeper Rui Patricio denied the equalizer with an unbelievable save on a free kick
By the hour mark, Morocco was putting the pressure on he Portuguese squad. The Moroccans had good ball distribution and moved very well trough the sides of the pitch. Nonetheless, they were not able to turn their chances into goals.
Morocco had four forwards at front by the 75th minute, as they were now into “All or nothing” mode. However, neither Benatia, nor Ziyech and Nordin Amrabat could score a goal for dear life.
Portugal survived and by the end of the match, the had already sealed their passport to the round of 16.
Final Score, 1-0.
Iran
Spain came out of a tight match with 3 points
First Half
This first half was a tricky one for Spain. From the start it was clear that Iran was going to stay at the back looking for counter attack opportunities as they defend extremely well. The game almost looked like a handball match played with feet, as Spain passed the ball constantly outside the box trying to find a crack on Iran’s extremely tight defense.
It wasn’t until the 29th minute that we saw the first (And Only) solid offensive attempt. David Silva went up the crossbar with an acrobatic kick.
Things got a bit rough thanks to a few protests here and there and foul simulations. Other than that, this was not Spain’s brightest half by any means.
Halftime score was 0-0
Second Half
The second half appeared to go down just as the first one, an it actually did for the first 10 minutes. Things changed thanks to Diego Costa.
Costa scored with his knee off a rebound from an Iranian defender at the 54th minute. Spain broke trough, going up on the scoreboard 1-0
Iran was able to put the ball in the back of the net however, VAR proved the referee right as the play was offside
This was only the start as the Iran XI kept mounting up the pressure on the Spanish team. Aerial play proved useful for Iran as they were able to get into Spain’s box. Nonetheless, no goals were able to come out of those chances. Iran let go of their last chance to tie the score, throwing away a minute out of four from aggregate as the tried to throw in a ball to the box.
Iran’s late offensive efforts were unsuccessful at the end of the day. Spain came out with the win from this nail bitter. 1-o the final score.
Group B will square off next Monday. Spain will face Morocco, and Iran and Portugal will lay it all on the line in what promises to be a great match.