CRISTIANO RONALDO'S superhuman hat-trick in the group opener against Spain has been the tournament highlight so far.
But despite the Real Madrid megastar’s treble, Portugal only secured a point so there is much work for them to do still to make it out of Group B. Victory today is a must and would knock Morocco out of the tournament following the North Africans' late defeat to Iran on Friday.
The nation expects:
Winning the Euros two years ago means Portugal can no longer rely on a ‘dark horses’ tag.
Their fans expect Fernando Santos’ side to go far in the tournament and that means dispatching the likes of Morocco relatively comfortably. Key battles:
Morocco were the only African side not to concede a goal in qualifying.
But how well Romain Saiss - who plays at centre-back for his country as opposed to midfield for Wolves - will cope with power, pace and footballing genius of Ronaldo is a worry. Weakest links:
Goalkeeper Munir is a concern for the Atlas Lions. He barely played for for Spanish second-tier side Numancia this season and is not great coming for high balls. The middle of Portugal’s defence is also not what it was two years ago.
Pepe is past his prime while Rangers’ Bruno Alves and ex-West Ham flop Jose Fonte have struggled. Team Talk:
Santos should have a full squad of players to pick from and could well stick with the team that played Spain. He will be hoping a few of his other players step up though and be a little less reliant on Ronaldo, who now has a staggering 84 goals in 151 games for his country.
Fans have been swooning over Morocco’s heartthrob boss Herve Renard - who once bossed Cambridge United - and the Frenchman will hope his side are as good-looking on the pitch as supporters think he is off it.
In the defeat to Iran, Renard subbed Watford’s Nordin Amrabat for sibling Sofyan Amrabat - the first time in World Cup history a player has come on for his brother - but Nordin will miss this game due to concussion. Hakim Ziyech is the outstanding creative talent in the Morocco ranks and helped Ajax reach the Europa League final in 2017.
Facts & Stats:
Morocco beat Portugal 3-1 in their only previous encounter, in the group stages of the 1986 World Cup. It was Morocco’s first ever win at the tournament.
Portugal’s only defeat against African opposition at the World Cup came against Morocco in 1986 (1-3) – they’ve won two and drawn one of their subsequent three games against them.
Portugal have not lost against a non-European nation at the World Cup since June 2002, when they lost 1-0 to South Korea (W5 D3 since).
Portugal have lost only one of their last 10 World Cup group games (0-4 v Germany in 2014), winning five and drawing the other four.
Morocco did not face a single shot in the second half of their opening match against Iran.
Morocco had 68% possession in their 1-0 defeat to Iran, the most by a losing team in a World Cup match since June 2010, when Spain had 73% possession against Switzerland but lost 1-0.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s three goals for Portugal against Spain made him the oldest hat-trick scorer in the history of the World Cup (33y 130d). His third goal in that game was also the first time he’d scored from direct free-kick in a major international tournament, at the 45th attempt.
Portugal talisman Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick against Spain in their opening match, making him just the fourth player to score in four separate World Cup tournaments, after Uwe Seeler, Pele and Miroslav Klose.Cristiano Ronaldo had scored three goals from 70 shots in his previous three World Cup tournaments combined for Portugal (2006, 2010 and 2014) – at the 2018 World Cup, he has scored three goals from just four shots.
Morocco’s Aziz Bouhaddouz scored an own-goal against Iran in their opening match, becoming just the third substitute to score an own-goal in a World Cup match, after Laszlo Dajka in 1986 (Hungary v USSR) and Petit in 2006 (Portugal v Germany).
Current Portugal manager Fernando Santos has only won one World Cup match (P5 W1 D3 L1), but it did come in his only previous game against African opponents, with his Greece side winning 2-1 against Ivory Coast in June 2014.
