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What to watch for today
The hosts kicked things off yesterday by gliding to a 5-0 victory over Saudi Arabia. Now we’re treated to a three-fixture match day to begin the weekend.
Egypt v. Uruguay | Group A
Unless you’re Uruguayan, you welcomed the news from Egypt’s manager Hector Cuper that Mo Salah looks to be fit for this match. When Mo plays, we all win. Egypt and Uruguay are the two favorites to move on from Group A, but Russia’s 5-0 win yesterday does add a bit of extra pressure to this match up. In 2014, Uruguay emerged from a group including England, Italy, and Costa Rica, and will be expecting to top this group. They boast Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez in attack and Atlético Madrid’s center back pairing – which propelled them to a second place finish in South American qualifying. Egypt will be playing in their first World Cup since 1990 and with a global phenomenon in their ranks. A loss in their first match would make their next two matches nervy, but their defense-first approach will give them a good shot at a result today.
Morocco v. Iran | Group B
All the attention in Group B is on Spain and Portugal, but one of Morocco or Iran emerging from this group should be on your radar. Remember, Portugal didn’t get out of their group in 2014 and had a very slow start to Euro 2016. A win for either Morocco or Iran in this match, plus a loss from Portugal against Spain (or a Spanish implosion after their managerial drama) throws this group wide open. Morocco didn’t concede in their six group matches in qualification and feature Hakim Ziyech in attack, who has led the Eredivisie in assists the last two seasons. Iran has a similarly tough defense, going on a run of 13 qualifiers without conceding. They nearly managed a result against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup, before conceding a 91st minute Messi winner. This is an even match up that could lead to one of tournament’s surprise qualifiers for the knockout rounds.
Portugal v. Spain | Group B
The absolute craziness of Spain sacking their manager on the eve of the World Cup has made the 2018 World Cup’s first match up between football superpowers even more intriguing. Confident words have come from the Spanish national team players in the fallout, but tonight we’ll see if they’re as focused as they claim. Spain has added a bit more directness to tiki-taka, and as long as they haven’t been too rattled, they should still be one of the favorites in the tournament. Portugal should give them plenty more to think about from the outset, with Ronaldo’s evolution into a ruthless poacher and Bernardo Silva’s creative spark. At the back however, they’ll have to hope 35 year old Pepe and a lost José Fonte can hold things together.
