The following is a match centre with betting tips for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Group B fixture between Portugal and Morocco. The game kicks off on the 20th of June at 10:00 PM AEST. The fixture will be broadcast live on SBS.
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Portugal
- FIFA World Rank: 4
- Elo Rating: 6
- Qualifying: Won Group B with a 9-0-1 record in the UEFA Confederation qualification.
Squad:
- Coach: Fernando Santos
- Goalkeepers: Anthony Lopes (Lyon), Beto (Goztepe), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)
- Defenders: Bruno Alves (Rangers), Cedric Soares (Southampton), Jose Fonte (Dalian Yifang), Mario Rui (Napoli), Pepe (Besiktas), Raphael Guerreiro (Borussia Dortmund), Ricardo Pereira (Porto), Ruben Dias (Benfica)
- Midfielders: Adrien Silva (Leicester), Bruno Fernandes (Sporting Lisbon), Joao Mario (West Ham), Joao Moutinho (AS Monaco), Manuel Fernandes (Lokomotiv Moscow), William Carvalho (Sporting)
- Forwards: Andre Silva (AC Milan), Bernardo Silva (Manchester City), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Gelson Martins (Sporting Lisbon), Goncalo Guedes (Valencia), Ricardo Quaresma (Besiktas)
Recent results:
- Portugal 3 – 3 Spain
15/06/2018
FIFA World Cup, played in Russia - Portugal 3 – 0 Algeria
07/06/2018
Friendly, played in Portugal - Belgium 0 – 0 Portugal
02/06/2018
Friendly, played in Belgium - Portugal 2 – 2 Tunisia
28/05/2018
Friendly, played in Portugal - Portugal 0 – 3 Netherlands
26/03/2018
Friendly, played in Switzerland - Portugal 2 – 1 Egypt
23/03/2018
Friendly, played in Switzerland - Portugal 1 – 1 USA
14/11/2017
Friendly, played in Portugal - Portugal 3 – 0 Saudi Arabia
10/11/2017
Friendly, played in Portugal - Portugal 2 – 0 Switzerland
10/10/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Portugal - Andorra 0 – 2 Portugal
07/10/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Andorra - Hungary 0 – 1 Portugal
03/09/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Hungary - Portugal 5 – 1 Faroe Islands
31/08/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Portugal
Statistics: (last four years):
- H2H Record: 34-11-10
- O/U record
- O/U 0.5 record: 52-3
- O/U 1.5 record: 37-18
- O/U 2.5 record: 28-27
- O/U 3.5 record: 15-40
- O/U 4.5 record: 10-45
- O/U 5.5 record: 6-49
- Wins
- Total wins: 34
- Won by 1 goal: 17
- Won by 2 goals: 4
- Won by 3 goals: 6
- Won by 4 goals: 3
- Won by 5 goals: 1
- Won by 5+ goals: 3
- Won to nil 25
- Losses
- Total losses: 10
- Lost by 1 goal: 7
- Lost by 2 goals: 2
- Lost by 3 goals: 1
- Lost by 4 goals: 0
- Lost by 5 goals: 0
- Lost by 5+ goals: 0
- Lost to nil 8
- Clean Sheets and BTTS
- Total Games: 55
- Clean Sheets: 28
- Held Scoreless: 11
- Both Teams Scored: 19
Morocco
- FIFA World Rank: 41
- Elo Rating: 36
- Qualifying: Won Group C with a 3-3-0 record in the CAF Third Round.
Squad:
- Coach: Hervé Renard (France)
- Goalkeepers: Mounir El Kajoui (Numancia), Yassine Bounou (Girona), Ahmad Reda Tagnaouti (Ittihad Tanger)
- Defenders: Mehdi Benatia (Juventus), Romain Saiss (Wolves), Manuel Da Costa (Basaksehir), Badr Benoun (Raja Casablanca), Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid), Hamza Mendyl (LOSC)
- Midfielders: M'barek Boussoufa (Al Jazira), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord), Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord), Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray), Faycal Fajr (Getafe), Amine Harit (Schalke 04)
- Forwards: Khalid Boutaib (Malatyaspor), Aziz Bouhaddouz (Saint Pauli), Ayoub El Kaabi (Renaissance Berkane), Nordin Amrabat (Leganes), Mehdi Carcela (Standard de Liege), Hakim Ziyech (Ajax)
Recent results:
- Morocco 0 – 1 Iran
15/06/2018
FIFA World Cup, played in Russia - Estonia 1 – 3 Morocco
09/06/2018
Friendly, played in Estonia - Slovakia 1 – 2 Morocco
04/06/2018
Friendly, played in Switzerland - Ukraine 0 – 0 Morocco
31/05/2018
Friendly, played in Switzerland - Morocco 2 – 0 Uzbekistan
27/03/2018
Friendly, played in Morocco - Serbia 1 – 2 Morocco
23/03/2018
Friendly, played in Italy - Ivory Coast 0 – 2 Morocco
11/11/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Ivory Coast - South Korea 1 – 3 Morocco
10/10/2017
Friendly, played in Switzerland - Morocco 3 – 0 Gabon
07/10/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Morocco - Mali 0 – 0 Morocco
05/09/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Mali - Morocco 6 – 0 Mali
01/09/2017
WC qualifiers, played in Morocco - Cameroon 1 – 0 Morocco
10/06/2017
African Cup of Nations qualification, played in Cameroon
Statistics: (last four years):
- H2H Record: 29-10-10
- O/U record
- O/U 0.5 record: 42-7
- O/U 1.5 record: 29-20
- O/U 2.5 record: 20-29
- O/U 3.5 record: 10-39
- O/U 4.5 record: 4-45
- O/U 5.5 record: 2-47
- Wins
- Total wins: 29
- Won by 1 goal: 9
- Won by 2 goals: 9
- Won by 3 goals: 6
- Won by 4 goals: 3
- Won by 5 goals: 1
- Won by 5+ goals: 1
- Won to nil 19
- Losses
- Total losses: 10
- Lost by 1 goal: 10
- Lost by 2 goals: 0
- Lost by 3 goals: 0
- Lost by 4 goals: 0
- Lost by 5 goals: 0
- Lost by 5+ goals: 0
- Lost to nil 9
- Clean Sheets and BTTS
- Total Games: 49
- Clean Sheets: 26
- Held Scoreless: 16
- Both Teams Scored: 14
Commentary
Portugal got their World Cup campaign off to a solid start with a 3-3 draw against Spain. Christiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick that an included an 88th minute goal to secure the draw. It was an excellent result given Spain’s dominance of the game, tarnished only by the fact that Iran picked up 3 points against Morocco. The key talking point was Ronaldo’s performance. In one match he equaled his entire haul in three previous tournaments. Without him Portugal certainly would have lost the game. The draw extends Portugal’s strong run of form since winning Euro 2016. They have gone 14-5-2 since the tournament and Portugal have lost only one of their last twenty games coming into this clash. In team news, Portugal have no injury concerns but are expected to tweak the squad that drew Spain, with pundits predicting that winger Bruno Fernandes will be dropped in favour of either Gelson Martins or Joao Mario.
Morocco got their campaign off to a bad start, losing 1-0 to fellow minnow Iran. This was despite having 68% of the possession, which was the most by a losing team in a World Cup match since June 2010. It was a cruel result given Iran failed to achieve a single shot in the second half, but won courtesy of a 95th minute Moroccan own goal. The defeat ended a 10-game unbeaten streak and it likely derailed Morocco’s chances of reaching the Round of 16. In team news, Morocco have an injury headache at right-back, with Nordin Amrabat ruled out with concussion while Nabil Dirar remains sidelined with a knee injury.
Betting
bet365 odds (subject to change):
Compare the latest bookmaker odds for Portugal vs. Morocco
The only previous meeting between the two sides came at the 1986 World Cup, which Morocco won 3-1. They will be hard pressed to repeat that feat, however, given Portugal have not lost to a non-European nation at the World Cup since losing to South Korea in 2002 (5-3-0 record since then). Morocco should be no easy beats, however, given defence is their strength. They’ve only lost 1 of their last 11 games and they won their qualifying group without conceding a goal. Since a 2-1 defeat against the Netherlands last year, none of Morocco’s subsequent 20 opponents have managed to score more than once. You have to go back to 2014 for the last time Morocco were defeated by more than 1 goal. Another interesting stat is 9 of Morocco’s 10 defeats over the last 4 years were to nil (a 1-0 scoreline).
Betting tip: back Morocco +1.5 in the Asian Handicap at 1.47 (bet365) and back Portugal to win 1-0 at 6.80 (Betfair)
Notes
- FIFA World rankings are from the 7th of June and sourced from https://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/index.html
- The World Football Elo Ratings are from the 11th of June and are based on the Elo rating system, developed by Dr. Arpad Elo. This system is used by the international chess federation to rate chess players and is considered by many to be a superior rating tool to the one used by FIFA. The ratings have been sourced from https://www.eloratings.net/.
- Squad lists sourced from http://www.skysports.com/football/news/12098/11374464/every-world-cup-squad-listed-argentina-brazil-russia-and-more