World Cup – day 2

Morocco vs Iran and it’s not been a great week for Morocco has it, first of all they lose their 2026 World Cup bid to a joint bid from America, Canada and Mexico. They have now gone and lost in injury time to Iran in their opening game of this World Cup and to make it worse it was an own goal by Bouhaddouz, who got his positioning all wrong and headed powerfully passed his own goalkeeper.

It was an entertaining game from start to finish and I was actually due to write how much of a good game it was for goalless draw but then there was the dramatic finish. There wasn’t so much as a lot of very good football played, more a lot of end to end attacking football, mainly from Morocco but Iran certainly had their chances and probably could have been 1-0 up at half-time. They hung on in there though and both sides battled for every challenge and in the end that is why six minutes injury-time was played after numerous injuries. Iran won though it won and that was their first World Cup win since France 98. With Portugal and Spain to come, this was a huge win for Iran.

Morocco 0–1 Iran
Bouhaddouz Goal 90+5′ (o.g.)

Portugal vs Spain kicked off and all the talk beforehand was still about the sacking of Julen Lopetegui, but by the end of the night his name had been forgotten and everyone was talking about that man Cristiano Ronaldo. After his one man show for Portugal in a truly brilliant game to watch. It all started when he won himself a penalty after a trip from his Real Madrid team Nacho after just three minutes. He converted the penalty but twenty minutes later and with Spain now dominating the game, Diego Costa equalised.

Spain could have then scored more and it looked as if Portugal had managed to get through to half-time still level, but then it was Ronaldo again who’s shot squirmed passed De Gea in what was a terrible error by the Man United keeper.

Spain started the second-half as they finished the first, but this time they converted their chance and inside the hour mark they were three goals to two up. Ronaldo looked annoyed and frustrated, what more does he have to do? Well, with two minutes to go, he was stupidly tripped by Pique on the edge of their area. Ronaldo took his time along with a few deep breaths but getting the ball up and around the wall and into the top corner of goal. This time De Gea had absolutely no chance. What a game!

Next matches for Portugal and Spain
Wed June 20: Portugal v Morocco (Group B) – Moscow (Luzhniki), 1pm
Wed June 20: Iran v Spain (Group B) – Kazan, 7pm