WC 2018 Group B: Spain Portugal Iran Morocco

I have no doubts Iran will be very hard to beat. But the goal should be to go to the second Round for the first time. If you want to get on the map of World Football you need to pull it off this time. I know many Iranians are still proud of their great performance against Argentina four years ago but honestly the Iranians are the only ones who can remember that. Most neutral people can't remember that anymore. But everybody remembers Costa Rica. Many teams were close to a sensation in World Cup history but the least pulled it off in the end. It's to be or not to be with other words.

 

You are absolutely right. Everything you said is correct. The goal is that but it is very difficult

 

I honestly don't think that anyone here thinks that Iran will be easy. Iran will probably end up deciding who goes through..

 

With a slim chance of going through itself!

 

Yes and we are European champions which will be in record books for eternity.

 

The last 3 World Cup were won by European teams and 5 out of the last seven also won by European teams.

 

The first matchday is a very important day for all four teams especially for Portugal, Iran, and Morocco. Cause Spain will go through probably with 7 or 9 points. If Portugal loses on the first day, they will have a hard tournament since there is a chance of giving away points against Iran or Morocco. On the other side, any of the teams involved (Iran and Morocco) can change the whole map of the group if they finish the first matchday with 3 points. It means in some scenarios, they might only need one point from two matches to go through

 

The way I simply see it. Spain will keep possession of the ball and make Portugal chase. They will get tired physically and emotionally chasing the ball and will lose.

Morrocco will try to do the same against Iran by keeping possession but Iran will play tough defense and it will probably end up 0-0. Neither team wants to lose because they know a loss in the first match is basically goodbye Russia.

Iran after chasing the whole game with little to no possession is screwed because now they have to face the team that keeps possession better than any other National team on the planet. They will chase and chase and chase and eventually be broken down and lose to Spain, Maybe even in ugly fashion because after the first goal goes in the pressure will be on them.

The key match then is Portugal-Morocco. I see it being a close match but eventually Ronaldo does some sort of crazy shot he pulls out of his arse and they win a close one.

Spain plays their benchers and still gets a draw in the Final match day cause their bench is as good as Morocco's first team.
Iran is so drained physically and mentally after chasing the ball in the first two matches they don't have enough gas left in the tank to get any points against Portugal.

Spain 7
Portugal 6
Morocco 2
Iran 1

 

If Iran would be third in the same group, Portuguese fans would most probably brag about how weak the other teams were. Reality is that drawing Hungary 3-3 is not a good sign if you say that Iran is ''not even a challenge''.

 

I hope the Moroccan players think the same like you do in the opening match.

 

What happened to Portugal NT goalkeeper Rui Patricio?

He made a horrible blunder in the match against Marítimo during stoppage time.

Marítimo ended up winning with 2-1 and 3rd Iran NT goalkeeper Abedzadeh was in goal

 

If it’s our luck, he will turn into Buffon when playing us. There is a trend of shitty goalkeepers putting on their best ever shows against Iran. Remember how Argentina’s shaky goalkeeper turned into a beast when facing us in 2014...

 

Best part of that video was the music from Van Halen's "Jump" being played after the goal.

 

Jahanbakhsh and Azmoun are very good and can score against anyone. If Iran scores first and parks the bus, that could be a nightmarish situation for anyone in the group including Spain (if they don't win against Portugal).

 

That is Iran's main hope really. IF they can score first then they will be a real menace in this Group and can advance.
Will they score first though?
Tune in within the month of June to find out...

 

I agree but what happen's if Iran conceds first? I certainly wouldn't put money on Iran to turn things around against quality oppsitions. Iran has been so dominant in Asia. They are never trailing, even don't get scored on. Since Queiroz took over in 2011 Iran did never win a match from coming behind! I just did some quick research. After sealing the qualification Iran started to play a more ofensive style of play. I guess Queiroz wants his players to be better prepared in case they fall behind. When they fall behind it's clear that they can't play the same way like before. They have to attack then. But it's in the nature of the game that it's very very hard to turn things around against quality wise superior opponents.

 

My conclusion:
•Iran is very tough to play against as long as the score is level.
•Iran is arguably one of the most toughest teams in World Football to play against if you are trailing.
•Iran is screwed once they fall behind (especially against quality sides such as Morooco, Spain and Portugal)

 

oh my he is really bad just do not know how we beat sporting if he starts at world cup he is going to get a hammering

 

I said that Iran is basically screwed once they fall behind. Spain has so much individual quality that they always find a way to score. Portugal has a goal-scoring machine in Ronaldo. He proved several times that he can score in every second against the very best defenses in the World. This doesn't look too good for Iran. The chance to fall behind for Iran is extremely high with such opponents who can field players of world class quality. If they get scored on first they will face an uphill task. Iran would do much better in some other groups obviously where teams don't have that calibre of high-class players.

 

I really don't think that they do. They and the coach always speak very highly of Iran. Renard is also very old school and all about respect and hard work so im sure they will take the Iran game very seriously.

 

results aside, i think it will show the status of portugal when they bunker against a side like morocco. this will confirm their status as relative minnows always in the shadows of their superior iberian neighbours spain. big teams dont do this.

 

what people who are rating moroccos chances higher than Iran are missing is that north african teams, like south and central american teams, have too much ego. you cannot only look at sides based on strength on paper. so i see morocco making the mistake of attacking Iran.

 

the order of the games is not good for Iran.

even if we beat morocco, we get spain next and there is no way we take any points off them after having given it all in the morocco match. then the pressure will be on against portugal who will likely have more points than us by that point. and we all know how bad we do when we go into a game needing points against an opponent who needs less points than us. the only way that we could realistically advance is if morocco and spain take more points off portugal heading into the last match than they take from us. slim chance, but not impossible.

the best order of games for Iran would have been:

spain
morocco
portugal

this is because we could have got a draw from spain if we played them fresh in the first match. then morocco we would have same chance as we do now with them. so this game would make it or break it. so if we beat morocco then we would likely need only 1 point against portugal, which we could bunker and take.

even this would have been better:

morocco
portugal
spain

or

portugal
morocco
spain

playing spain as 2nd match sucks. both portugal and morocco got lucky in this regard.

the only way we will advance: i just hope spain beats portugal and morocco, and morocco draws portugal. while we get 2 points or 3 points, or 1 point but with better goal differential than portugal and morocco. then we would frustrate portugal by playing defensive and harassing them on the counter with players like jahanbaksh and azmoun and taremi. ronaldo cant do shit against us if we are playing super defensive mode. only messi can.

dont forget that this portugal team is not an attacking side. they are a defensive side who rely on counters. but if they go into final match against Iran, they will go up against a strong defense while they will have no experience playing the whole game on attack mode. this will allow us to neutralize their offense and hit them on the counter.

morocco has the luckiest game schedule. they play Iran. then portugal. so by the time they reach spain, if they play their cards right, then they can just bunker. even portugal has luckier scheduling than Iran, because they play spain first so they can bunker and go for the draw (which they will), then they play morocco and that is their make it or break it game. all they need is a win and that would mean that they go into the Iran game needing less points than Iran so they will be at a huge advantage. if portugal can hold spain to a draw in the first game, which is not that hard to do at that point in time, then that means spain will try extra hard to beat Iran in the 2nd game. we got the shittiest schedule. all we can do is hope that spain beats both portugal and morocco and morocco and portugal draw.

 

You can't get evetything. It's still good that you start with Morocco where you have a good chance to start the campaign with a win to strenghten the confidence in the squad. I believe Queiroz will alternate most of the time with his line up. He will never send the entirely same line-ups into back to back games. His game requires players who can hustle all the time and completely go to their limits. I think that's the reason why he kept using always a few fringe players in every of the last matches. He wants to figure out who of those players can help out in at least one World Cup match. He will take full usage of the 23-men squad. The reserve goalkeepers and maybe one or two field players aside he will use all his players at least once in these three games. He will make sure that there are always at least 5-6 fresh players starting in every game. That's at least my guess.