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Portugal and Morocco face off in their second game of the 2018 World Cup on Wednesday, June 20th. They open the day with Spain and Iran, the other two teams in Group B, facing off later that day.
Portugal had a really exciting opener with Cristiano Ronaldo the star. He scored a hat trick in their 3-3 draw with Spain. His hat trick is grabbing the headlines and that’s nice for Portugal as it’s taking away from what an overall poor team performance they had. If they’re going to make a repeat of Euro 2016 they’re going to need to step up.
Morocco got off to the worst possible start with a loss against Iran. They started strong in the game controlling it, however as time went by they faded and then lost to a brutal own goal. They played well up until the final third of the pitch where they had nothing going on.
For Morocco to qualify, they need to at least beat Portugal or Spain and get a draw against the other. It’s a big task.
Portugal vs Morocco Betting Odds:
Portugal To Win: 1.60
Morocco To Win: 6.50
Draw: 4.00
(Odds on this page are correct as of 2018/06/16 10:55:09 AM EST but are subject to change)
Portugal Analysis:
As a team I’m really not impressed by Portugal at all. The only player other than Ronaldo that I’d give a passing mark to would be Carvalho.
I did like that Portugal wanted to strike fast and were pushing up right away. They played the ball into space a lot and don’t seem to mind not having possession.
I hope Portugal wrap Ronald in bubble wrap for the entire tournament and that the other players step up to assist him.
It’s going to be interesting watching them go forward from here. Ronaldo just seems to be getting better with age and it’s beautiful to watch.
Morocco Analysis:
If they had someone that could put the ball in the back of the net they’d be dangerous. As it is they just do not and that’s going to hurt them going forward.
Their full backs played very high up and it’ll be interesting to see if they do that against Portugal or not. You’d think they’d have to keep it that way regardless of Portugals excellent counter attacking ability.
I just don’t know if Morocco can score the goals. To be fair it was a bad day at the office for the team. Iran looked to kill their creativity and they did a good job with it.
I do think Morocco are a better team than what they showed. Maybe in a more open game against Portugal, we’ll see that.
Portugal vs Morocco Betting Tips:
This is a very tricky game to call as I know Morocco can perform better but not sure if they will. It’s tough to seeing them really scoring a goal based off that last performance and their expected goal rating was brutal.
They’ll have to push up yet that’s where Portugal are most lethal – get the ball and fire it into space and you’re going to back Ronaldo over everyone.
I’m extremely conflicted in this one as a lot of it rides on Morocco being able to score. Portugal will be very effective on the counter and that could crush them. But I do expect Morocco to have a better performance and yet I can’t see the rest of the Portugese team – Ronaldo excluded – from throwing in a great performance. Ronaldo is the difference maker but I’ll go with Morocco +1 Asian Handicap for 1u.
