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Posted on June 14, 2018June 16, 2018 by Michael T

Morocco – Iran World Cup 2018

MOROCCO

IRAN

June 15^th, 2018 Saint-Petersburg Stadium

Nickname(s):

Morocco: Atlas Lions

Iran: Team Melli

The road to the World Cup:

Morocco qualified for the tournament without losing a single match. This will be their 5^th FIFA World Cup participation. They qualified for the finals for the first time in 20 years. Their last big tournament was in 1998 in France, when they played in a group with Brazil and Norway. In the last game 2 minutes before the end, Kjetil Rekdal scored the winning goal for Norway against Brazil and Morocco had to go home. The Atlas Lions are the first African team who passed the group stage in 1986, losing against West Germany after that with 1-0, they put their names in the African football history.

Iran also is for the 5^th time in the finals. One of the most successful Asian team is lead by the former Real Madrid coach Carlos Queiroz. Iran finished their qualification group without losing a game, the 22 points from their 10 games were enough for them to pass the qualification. Iran has never passed the groups and has only won 1 game in 1998 when they beat the USA. The Melli is the highest ranked Asian team in the tournament since 2014. Can they win their second game? We are about to see!

FIFA Rankings

Morocco

Current – 41
Highest – 10
Lowest – 95

Iran

Current – 37
Highest – 15
Lowest – 122

Coaches & Captains

Morocco - Herve Renard & Medhi Benatia
Iran- Carlos Queiroz & Masoud Shojaei

Performance and key’s players:

Morocco

The Lions are one of the best team in Africa and now they will have the chance to face two of the best teams in Europa- Spain, and Portugal. Morocco has a very solid defence and for any team will be a challenge to score a goal against them. Their attack is led by the Southampton star Sofiane Boufal, for who this is the first major tournament in his career. Most of the Morocco players are part of European clubs and for them, this will be a little plus. If Morocco wants to continue to the next stage, they have to put a performance which has to surprise the Europeans giants. Beating Spain and Portugal look impossible, but why not Morocco to put the surprise in this group.

Iran

Iran on the other side has also an impossible task in front of them. Carlos Queiroz is well known with his amazing defence strategies (he used to work with Alex Ferguson and was part of the team who won the Champions league 10 years ago) and definitely he is ready for the challenge. The key player of the team is Sardar Azmoun who is playing in Rubin Kazan. He scored 7 goals in the qualifications and an age of 23, he already netter 22 times for his country. Team Melli is hoping to put a good performance in the tournament and bring joy to their fans. The country is going through a tough period and the football may help the people to find happiness and new hope.

Prediction

Two evenly matched teams with an identical style of play will bring a real battle on the field. The good defence will be an essential part of this match. We don't expect a lot of action in the first half, both teams will play safe and try not to leave open spaces for the opponents. It is very possible this game to finish with only 1 goal, scored from a free kick or a corner kick.

Under 2.5 goals (4 points ✅

First-half draw (3 points) ✅

Morocco to win(2 points) ❌

Both teams to score a goal – NO (2 points) ✅

GOOD LUCK!

ENJOY THE GAME!

Posted on June 14, 2018June 16, 2018 by Michael T

Egypt – Uruguay World Cup 2018

EGYPT

URUGUAY

June 15^th Central Stadium Yekaterinburg

Nickname(s):

Uruguay: La Celeste (The Sky Blue)

Egypt: The Pharaohs

The road to the World Cup:

Uruguay finished second, after Brazil in the South America qualification group. The two-time world champions won 9 of their games, finish draw in 4 and conceded 5 loses. With 12 goals difference, they are the second best attack in South America. Uruguay has a number of top quality players in their side along with their brilliant strike force.

Egypt has qualified for the FIFA World Cup three times in their history: in 1934, in 1990 and 2018. Egypt was the first African country to qualify for the World Cup. On October 8^th, 2017 Mohamed Salah scored 2 goals against Congo to secure their spot in the finals, the game finished with a dramatic penalty kick in the last minute of the game, which Salah scored. The Pharaohs have never actually won a match in the final tournament, despite they are one of the best African teams with 7 African Cup of Nations trophies. Egypt players will be desperate to become part of Egyptian history this summer!

FIFA Rankings

Uruguay:

Current – 14
Highest – 2
Lowest -55

Egypt:

Current - 45
Highest – 9
Lowest – 75

Coaches & Captains:

Uruguay: Oscar Tabarez & Diego Godin

Egypt: Hector Cuper & Essam El Hadary

Performance and key's players:

Uruguay

Uruguay is favourites to win Group A, but this will no be an easy task. They have to achieve a good result in their first 2 games because the last game they have to face the host Russia. The Sky Blue has very experienced and well-balanced team, with strong players in each line of the defence, midfield, and offence. In the last tournament in 2016(Copa American Centenario) Uruguay could not past the group and was defeated by Mexico and Venezuela. Luis Suarez, Edison Cavani, Diego Godin are the leaders of the team, alongside Maxi Pereira who is the players with most caps for the team. Cavani is having the best season in his career so far and he will be on fire, Suarez is an incredible striker who has a lot to prove on the national stage after his unreasonable actions in the two previous tournaments (handball against Ghana in 2010 and biting Giorgio Chiellini in 2014). Diego Godin will help to tighten the defence and ensure that Uruguay qualify from Group A. Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur is definitely one to watch. The 20-year-old could announce himself to the world this summer and will be desperate to grasp onto the opportunity to represent his country.

Egypt

Egypt has a very good chance to past the group stage for first time in their history. For a team which never won a game in the FIFA World Cup tournament, we should say that this is their best chance ever. Mohamed Salah is one of the best players in the world right now, thanks to his performance as Liverpool reach the Champions League final. He also got the Player of the Year award in Premier League. Salah will be the main treatment and the man who will make the difference in Egypt matches. The other player you should pay attention to is Arsenal's player Mohamed Elneny, who will keep the midfield tight and is likely to play an instrumental role against any team who wants to hit Egypt on the counter-attack.

Prediction

Uruguay is the favourite in this game. They have the better attack and a lot more experience on the international stage. Suarez and Cavani are one of the best strikers in the world and definitely, they will score goals. Egypt will start very nervous and they will try to play the ball around Salah and use his speed on the wing. The Pharaohs has a good defence, but we doubt that they will hold the atomic attack of Uruguay. Uruguay will have more chances in the game and we expect them to score goals in both halves. Egypt may score a goal as well, but we don’t think that this will be enough for them to take a point in this game. They will have more chances against Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Uruguay to win (5 points) ✅

Over 2.5 goals in the game (3 points) ❌

Uruguay to score in both halves (2 points) ❌

GOOD LUCK!

ENJOY THE GAME!

Posted on May 28, 2018June 16, 2018 by Michael T

Russia – Saudi Arabia World Cup 2018

RUSSIA

SAUDI ARABIA

June 14^th Luzhniki Stadium

Nickname(s):

Russia- Sbornaya

Saudi Arabia- Green Falcons

The road to the World Cup:

Russia did not participate in the qualifications because there are hosting the tournament. Sbornaya has appeared in ten World Cups in their history. They won the first edition of the respective continental competition in 1960 as the Soviet Union ( of with Russia is the successor).

Saudi Arabia secured their place in the 2018 FIFA World Cup with a 1-0 win against Japan in their last AFC Round 3 Group B match. The Green Falcons finished in second place in the group behind Japan with 19 points, but they secured their place in the finals thanks to a goal difference ahead of Australia who also has 19 points! Russia 2018 will be the fifth appearance for Saudi Arabia in the FIFA World Cup after qualifying for the first time back in 1994 in the US. They featured in three consecutive finals afterwards (1998,2002 and 2006) before missing the last two editions in South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014.

FIFA Rankings

Russia:

Current- 66 (April 2018)
Highest -3 (April 1996)
Lowest -66 (April 2018)

Saudi Arabia:

Current – 70 (April 2018)
Highest- 21 (July 2004)
Lowest -126(December 2012)

Coaches & Captains:

Russia : Stanislav Cherchesov & Igor Akinfeev
Saudi Arabia: Juan Antonio Pizzi & Osama Hawsawi

Performance and key’s players:

Russia

This is the first time in history when Russia will host the FIFA World Cup. The whole country is hoping that this tournament will erase the shame from 2014 World Cup when the team was eliminated in the group stage after losing to Belgium and failing to beat South Korea and Algeria. Finishing in 3^rd place with no win 2 draws and 1 loss the Russian team had to go home early then they expected. The Russians were also poor at Euro 2016 and picked up only 1 point in the group stage against England. Stanislav Chercheshov`s men will be hoping to impress not only their home fans but the billions of fans around the world who will be watching. The home crowd will be their 12^th player and it is time for this team to show the world their true potential. There are opening against the outsider in the group and they should take a good result because Egypt and Uruguay will not give up easy!

The key’s men in the team are Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Aleksandr Kokorin (Zenit St Petersburg) & Yuri Zhirkov (Zenit St Petersburg). Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal) and Aleksandr Samedov(Spartak Moscow) have to put a good performance as well!

Saudi Arabia

Finishing as runner-up was not an easy feat as Saudi Arabia pipped Australia to the second spot through a marginally better goal difference. Saudi Arabia may not be a powerhouse, but Juan Antonio Pizzi is a good coach (regardless of what Chile may think) and he will have them ready for the tournament. Their chances to past the group stage are very low and they have to play against the home team in their first game, this will be a huge challenge for them! Interestingly, Saudi Arabia did not have a single player in their squad who played their club football outside of the country! Until Fahad Al-Muwallad came on for Levante in La Liga in early May.

The key’s men in the team are Nawaf Al-Abed (Al- Hilal), Fahad Al-Muwallad (Levante) and Yanya Al-Shehri (Al Nassr).

Prediction

We expect a very nervous game for both teams. Russia will feel the pressure on their shoulder in the beginning and they will try to keep the ball more often than the Falcons. The Russians will have the help from the crowd and they will attack very strong. Saudi Arabia will try to defend as best as they can and play physical on the back lines. We expect a lot of free kicks and corner kicks in the game and Russia to score a goal around the 30-40 min in the first half. The second half will continue with a high pressure and mostly battle in the middle of the field and a late goal will seal the victory for the home team. This is a very important game for Russia and they have to win it no matter what.

Russia to win (5 points) ✅

Russia to win first and second half (1 point) ✅

Correct score: 2-0 (1 point)

GOOD LUCK!

ENJOY THE GAME!!!