Portugal will face the sick African representative, Morocco, at Luzhniki Stadium, on the second matchday of Group B 2018 World Cup, Tuesday (20/6) night local time.
Despite the unbeatable escape, Morocco is judged to be competitive enough to surprise Spain and Portugal in Group B. But they started the 2018 World Cup very badly, losing 1-0 to Iran by an own goal.
Therefore, the steps of Morocco to realize the magic to the round of 16 large is very small, because the mental Medhi Benatia cs also predicted to fall. But the lion Atlas could hope to repeat Portugal's conquest history, as they once did 1986 World Cup ago.
Instead for Portugal, the victory would ease their steps to get through to the knockout stage. Everything is potential, as Seleccao's mentality is doing well after holding on to favorite champions Spain on the first matchday yesterday.
Moreover, the main star, Cristiano Ronaldo, was on-fire as a piece of hat-trick he made into the nets of Spain. Morocco with a weaker defense, could be an easy target to continue peaking in the top scorer list.
"I can understand your intentions [reporters] I can understand you We will face Morocco and I hope Ronaldo plays a great game," said Portugal coach Fernando Santos, as reported by Four Four Two.
No Portuguese players are physically disturbed nor Moroccan, so we can expect both teams to play a duel with the maximum. But of course, the champions Euro 2016 deserve to be seeded.
Players Forecast:
Portugal (4-4-2): Rui Patricio; Soares, Pepe, Fonte, Guerreiro; Silva, Moutinho, Carvalho, Fernandes; Guedes, Ronaldo.
Morocco (4-2-3-1): Mohamedi; Hakimi, Benatia, Saiss, Mendyl; Boussoufa, Ahmadi; ZIyech, Belhanda, Harit; Kaabi.
Prediction Goal Indonesia: Portugal 3-1 Morocco
Do you know?
Morocco beat Portugal 3-1 in the final clash of both teams. It happened in the group phase of the 1986 World Cup, which was the inaugural victory of the Atlas Lions at the grand tournament.
The defeat was the only thing that Portugal didertia from the African representative at the World Cup. In the next three occasions, Seleccao won twice and drew once.
Portugal has never lost to a non-European representative in the World Cup since the 2002 edition when South Korea clashed 1-0. Since then, on eight occasions in attendance they have won eight times and drawn three times.
Portugal captain Ronaldo needed 70 shots to score three goals, each born in three previous World Cup performances (2006, 2010, 2014). In 2018, he only needs four shots to ceploskan three goals.
Portugal coach, Santos, only collected one victory of his five matches at the World Cup. The rest ended in three draws and one defeat, all of which were shared with Greece in the 2014 World Cup.