PORTUGAL v MOROCCO
Kickoff: 1300hrs
Football – World – World Cup 2018 Betting Tips
Welcome to my World Cup 2018 betting tips, and Portugal and Morocco do battle at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow with Portugal fresh from rescuing a point against fellow Group B favourites, Spain, coming up against a Morocco outfit who suffered a heartbreaking last minute defeat in their opening group match.
We got everything we expected (and more) when Portugal faced off against Spain in the game of the group stages as they ended up locked at 3-3 after what was a tremendous match. Cristiano Ronaldo was at his mercurial best as he grabbed a hat-trick, helped on his way by a first half penalty and then a De Gea howler as a seemingly innocuous speculative shot was fumbled by the Manchester United keeper.
In was an open game with both sides opening up each others defence, but Spain were relentless with their quick passing and movement off the ball and took a 3-2 lead with just two minutes remaining. But cometh the hour, cometh the man as a classic Ronaldo free-kick levelled the scores to earn the Portuguese a point.
Guedes and Ronaldo linked up well and the likes of Bernardo Silva and Fernandes should get more freedom out wide against Morocco as the Selecao look to grab the spoils here. The last (and only) meeting between Portugal and Morocco ended with the Moroccans winning 3-1, but that was 32 years ago!
Onto Morocco, and they were involved in a helter-skelter, frenetic encounter with Iran in their opening group match, and they started the game in positive fashion with wing-back Amrabat making some marauding runs down the right flank, while creative midfielder Ziyech orchestrated most of Morocco’s attacking play.
Against Iran, Morocco looked dangerous in the final third, but the trio of Ziyech, Belhanda and Harit could well find themselves stifled by the Portuguese midfield pair of Moutinho and Carvalho, so they may have to try and frustrate Portugal and take their chances from a set-piece.
In addition, with the game against Iran being played in quite humid conditions, I wonder how much that fast-paced game took out of Morocco as they now must get a result against both Spain and today’s opponents, Portugal.
My betting tips system suggests otherwise though…
Pick: Portugal to win @ 1.62 Betfair
