20 June 2018 Post Match reports

Portugal 1-0 Morocco

Cristiano Ronaldo headed Portugal’s winner as Morocco became the first team to be knocked out of the World Cup. Ronaldo’s fourth goal of the tournament, from Joao Moutinho’s cross, saw him become the leading European goalscorer in international football with 85 goals.

Morocco had several chances to equalise, Rui Patricio’s excellent one-handed save denying Younes Belhanda at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. Belhanda thought he had levelled after meeting a free-kick with his head, but Patricio produced an instinctive stop.

Medhi Benatia wasted four chances, including a snatched shot in stoppage time, while Belhanda fired straight at Patricio before Morocco’s exit from the tournament was confirmed with one match still to play.

Uruguay 1-0 Saudi Arabia

Luis Suarez’s first half strike against Saudi Arabia was enough to send Uruguay to the knockouts of the World cup. The Barcelona forward capitalized on some poor defending from Saudi Arabia to score his 52nd international goal for Uruguay.  Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais came for the ball after 23rd minute corner from Carlos Sanchez but failed to get it giving Suarez an easy task of tapping into an empty net.

Saudi , were a more improved side from the one that was mauled 5-0 by Russia and enjoyed more possession against their fancied opponents but couldn’t do anything with the ball apart from passing it around in the middle.  Midfielder Hattam Bahbri has wasted two glorious chances to equalize. His first shot from outside the box was punched over the bar by Muslera in the 26th minute. He had another chance three minutes later when he was teed inside the box but could not find the target and fired over the bar.

Carlos Sanchez could have doubled the scores in the 65th minute but failed to failed the target from five yards after being set up by Cavani. The PSG striker drew a save from the goalkeeper in the 85th minute.

Iran 0-1 Spain

Spain put behind their poor start to the 2018 World Cup to secure a hard-fought 1-0 win over Iran in their second game of Group B fixture staged at the Kazan’ Arena on Wednesday, thanks to a Diego Costa lone strike. Despite managing 81.1% possession during the first period with both Isco (55) and Sergio Ramos (53) completing more passes than Iran (49), Spain could only manage one attempt on target when Diego Costa broke the deadlock in the opening nine minutes of the second half. The Atletico Madrid man has now scored with all three of his shots on target at World Cup tournaments – his 10th for the national team in his 22nd appearance.

Spain failed to make a mark during their Group’s second game against an Iranian side who played a more defensive game to hold the star-studded side to a goalless draw in the first 45 minutes. Pique missed a header at the 10th minute, a free kick by David Silva was too high for the Barcelona man’s head to reach. Diego Costa was fouled multiple times close to the 18-yard box at the 22nd minute which birthed a freekick from a dangerous angle that was captured by Alireza Beiranvand, though a deflection occurred. Following Costa’s goal, an Iran equaliser was canceled after due consultation with the VAR which was an obvious offside. Spain finally made it to the knockout stage of the Russia 2018 World Cup following their early 3-3 draw with Portugal and a 1-0 win against Iran. With 4 points to their name, they will be playing Morocco in their last group game on Monday, June 25 while Iran entertain Portugal on the same day.