he Atlas Lions of Morocco has been eliminated from the FIFA World Cup after a crushing 1-0 defeat to Portugal courtesy a 4th-minute bullet header from Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo, therefore, extended his goal tally to 4 goals in 2 games.
Morocco conceded early and it was a real kick in the nut for Herve Renard’s team. However, Morocco controlled the game from the 4th minute to the last and deserved to end the game with at least a point.
They created chance after chance and unfortunately failed to convert any – primarily because of the absence of a proven goal scorer in the squad. Nordin Ambrabat had a notable performance and he constantly terrorised Portuguese left fullback, Raphael Guerreiro.
Spain battled heavily to defeat Carlos Queiroz Iran side 1-0 courtesy a ricochet shot off Diego Costa in the 54th minute. Iran defended valiantly in the first half and Spain had no answers to break their rear guard which sometimes had 11 players behind the ball. Spain came out more purposeful in the second half and got lucky after an interception deflected of Costa’s shin to the back of the net.
Iran thought they had equalised in the 62nd minute but VAR ruled Saied Ezzatollahi offside to break Iranian hearts. Surprisingly Iran had over 20,000 fans in the stadium and the atmosphere was electric.
Iran is a well-drilled side that can defend and attack, it will be a hard match between Iran and Portugal in the last group game.
Uruguay also defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 courtesy a Luis Suarez tap-in from a corner in the 23rd minute. Uruguay were extremely underwhelming and frankly nothing more should be said about their performance in the second half where they played the ball around to run down the clock – it was like watching paint dry. Saudi Arabia looked the better side with the most intent and gave a good account of themselves.
Tomorrow, Denmark face Australia, France will take on Peru and Lionel Messi will look to kick-start his World Cup against group D leaders Croatia. Hopefully the result favours the Super Eagles in the end.
