Morocco V Iran
(Synopsis in red)
Pregame bets:
I think this might be a close game but you know what……I actually fancy Iran to sneak this one. They do have that Alireza Jahanbakhsh fella who was top scorer in Holland and with the recent controversy over their kit and football boots or rather their lack of, it might bring them closer together as a group. I am also thinking Carlos Queiroz might have a few tricks of his sleeve as well. So for all those reasons and that I dont know much about Morocco I will lump on Iran to win. Risky but fuck it, lets do it.
€10.00 Single
Morocco v Iran – Match Odds Iran 11/4
€1.00 Single
Morocco v Iran – 1-2 13/1
Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/
Get in!!!!! I will take a extra time winner any day of the week, brilliant. Good one Iran, but truth be told you barely deserved it.
Beers: Group B of Beer World Cup:
Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Couldn’t source a beer from the staunch Islamic nation of Iran so no shock there. But a little surprising that I could actually get a beer from the Muslim nation of Morocco. I guess they are not as uptight about life as in Iran.
Had a cold one from Casablanca, not bad cold from the fridge, but not much character. Still better than nothing from Iran. One nil to Morocco.
PreGame:
Iran: Hopefully Iran will play a little better than their opening game in the last World Cup, a rather turgid 0-0 against an equally hapless Nigeria. They were possibly nervous on the world stage, so this time with more experienced players, I’d expect them to get a result in this game today.
Carlos Queiroz will have them well set up, and I am sure they will be tough to break down, attacking on the counter, and up front they have a guy who has scored a load of goals in Europe this season, Alireza Jahanbakhsh. Today is do or die for Iran, as Spain will be up next.
Don’t know much about Morocco, but they came out of a real tough qualifying group that had Ivory Coast and Mali, and they have a very experienced coach in French man Hervé Renard, who won the African Nations twice with Zambia and Ivory Coast, so he has to be well respected.
They also didn’t concede even one goal in that qualifying campaign so that might be something to consider, and with a squad that have a lot of players plying their trade in European leagues, Morocco are no pushovers for sure. I think, though, that they might get stage fright against a team that was where they are now four years ago. Iran are also quite good defensively and with that World Cup behind them, that might be enough for Iran to just eek out a narrow win.
A more detailed review on Iran here and on Morocco here
What a get out of jail card there from Iran, always good to see an extra time winner in a game.
It all began with a bang for Morocco, who started with clear intent on winning this game. Attack after attack within the first 15 minutes, it really looked good for them. N Amrabat bombing along the line every few minutes, while a skinny looking Harit in midfield controlling things and making some nice hazy runs. Yeah, for a while it looked all dangerous for Iran who were all over the place at the first quarter of the game.
But then Iran slowly came into the game, not through any great push from themselves but at how easy it was to brush aside and run past both the Moroccan midfield and defence. Iran were quite hopeless though once they did get good possession, constantly losing it in the vital third of the pitch and often trying to do too much when they had the ball, with a lot of over running and silly solo efforts on goal. Simples passes from both teams were at a premium, and at times it looked like an under ten game with all the amount of sloppy play on show.
Overall it was an entertaining game between two poor, poor sides, and I dont think Spain or Portugal will have too much trouble disposing of both these bad teams.
Music to get you in the mood
ANGBAND – Forsaken Dreams (Iran) V Analgesia – Revolution Has Begun
For Egypt and the whole footballing world, today a big question will be answered, will Mo Salah be fit in time to take the field against Uruguay?
Lets hope he can play for even some minutes in today’s game, even though I wonder would Héctor Cúper risk playing him against what are traditionally a very aggressive and tough tackling team in Uruguay. It really is a difficult decision for the coach, but after Russia coming out of the blocks on fire yesterday Egypt need some sort of result today to get off the mark.
That aggression is also matched up front with Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani both noted for their physicality which I would imagine will cause all sorts of problems for the relatively weak Egyptian defence today. I can see at least one of them getting on the score sheet. I fear that Uruguay will overpower Egypt today, and wouldn’t be surprised to see them score a bagful of goals. 
Pregame bets: I know Russia are muck, and I actually think they might not get out of their group, but how bad must they be not to beat SA at home in their own World Cup, seriously?
Knightberg Baltic Porter (Russia): V ? (Saudi Arabia): 1-0
Russia:A team where all the squad play in the Russian league bar two, ranked a pretty embarrassing 70th in the world, which is the lowest-ranked of all the teams at the World Cup, and badly struggling for form. Yes, Russia are pretty rubbish. 
For the first game of the World Cup it was a decent enough opener, 5 good goals, a lot of action and some nice play. For me Y Zhirkov and R Zobnin down the left flank were a constant thorn all game to the Saudi’s and it was nice to see Zobnin round off an excellent performance with a goal of his own in the dying seconds of the game. Also to note, fuck me Dzyuba is an animal, the size of him, lol!
Still the best World cups for me in terms of atmosphere or world cup songs was the Korea/Japan event where the passion came from the stands, and the 1990’s when music was still something to behold. 
So I probably wont be looking at the opening ceremony. The music might be trash, sorry, will be trash, and I couldn’t really stomach seeing the corporate in their suits guffawing in the prawn sandwich seats, while doing the two step to look down with the kids. 
Down to the long shots at this stage. Sure why not, definitely makes watching the games that tad bit more interesting. Reckon Croatia will have the upper hand in this game, albeit the Danes have a decent enough defence that might be hard to break down. 
I also fancy England to do well. They should beat Colombia, and whoever they get next between Switzerland/Sweden. After that, its a confidence thing, and with Harry Kane banging them in they have a serious chance this year. 
I expect Portugal to just edge this game, two equally matched teams, but hopefully Ronaldo will be back to form for this game, as he was pretty woefulagainst Iran. 
Australia V Peru
Goals will be the objective today for Portugal, knowing that this is what is needed to come top of the group. Step forward Ronaldo so to do the business. Sure Iran are still in it, but with a well placed free kick, they soon wont be in it. 
Fancy England to do a Belgium and hammer Panama. They will be eager to match Belgium’s goal tally as it might make a difference in the end to who tops the Group. 
James should be fully fit for the game and rearing to get a goal to start his World Cup in earnest. 
Against England the Tunisians were quite dirty and physical, and they are the type of team that will offer up loads of frees. Step forward De Bruyne, a man who knows how to hit them. He was so close in the first game, I expect him to get it right this time. 
And I just have a good feeling that they will jinx a peno. There are a lot of penalties in the World Cup so far and the Germans are the masters of getting them, so why not?
Serbia v Switzerland
Surely to god Brazil will be on fire tomorrow, come on the fuck. Neymar has to get off the mark, surely!
Perhaps this game will be more open than the Iceland game, and so with more room to play Messi might be more in tune to score a goal. 
As much as it would be nice to see Peru do well, I dont think it will happen. France will surely be keen to lay down a marker for the tournament after disappointing in the first game. And if they do get going, Griezmann will be the man to score the goals. 
I fancy Iniesta to score, to be honest the only real value I could get as most of the Spanish players are short odds for this game!
Of course Portugal will win this game, of that there can be no doubt, and if Ronnie can score a hat trick against a team as good as Spain then logic says he should at least get one against Morocco. 
James Rodriguez made his name in the last World Cup and this time I expect him to shine again. Why not, he is pure class when he gets going. And he has a lethal strike, so yeah he might do a Ronaldo and get a goal from a free kick, he has the ability to do so. Either way, I’d fancy him to at least score a goal. 
Japan, on the other hand, are not a great team but what they lack in ability they make up in determination and heart and I am sure they will not stop for the 90 minutes. With this in mind I can see them scoring a goal. And if that is the case then it has to be K Honda, their start player to score (who else?). And I have a strong vision of a penalty too, as they did get a penalty in the last world cup (as far as I can remember!) 
Poland are a very cynical team and like to take a tumble or three, and in Robert Lewandowski they have a bit of a cunt up forward who goes down with the slightest touch, and I would figure that Senegal will be like most African teams, tough tackling and a bit all over the place defensively, so with all this in mind I feel Senegal might get a red card in the game.
Will be a tight game, and for long periods I can see both teams cancelling each other out, but I would imagine that Sweden’s aerial ability should see them through for the victory, and they probably will be all over Korea from set piece play. Sweden knocked out Italy for fucks sake, so I would be very disappointed if they couldn’t handle Korea, even if the Red Devils have Son Heung-min up front.
Belgium are a team that I am looking forward to seeing. I am sure they will come out of the blocks rearing to go, and with Panama as their first game, I see a big win for the The Red Devils (RD number two today!)
England have a young but very attack minded team, with Harry Kane in their line up, I cant see how they wont score a few against Tunisia. 
I fancy Brazil to do great things in this World Cup, to make the final at the minimum. But I think Switzerland, with their decent defence, might cause them a small hiccup at the start. Remember the Swiss also beat Spain at the start of W Cup 2010, and the Spanish ended up winning the thing, so they can throw a spanner in the works for sure. And the Swiss also got Xherdan Shaqiri who can muster up some magic, if bothered, hopefully today he might get his finger out of his ass. 
Expect Costa Rica to continue where they left off at the last World Cup, hopefully with more goals and more great counter attacking football that won them so many admirers in 2014. Serbia are muck so I wouldn’t be surprised to see CR grab a few here. 
Do not rate Australia at all. In the Confederations Cup they were truly awful to see, no technical ability with a lot of plodders in the team. Not only that but they carry on the great Australian sporting tradition of whinging a lot. That is not going to work against a French team that will be fired up to put on a show, especially after the feast of football we were served last night between Spain and Portugal. Now its France’s turn and I am 
And if, as I expect, France will win and win handily, then you would fully expect that the goals would come from their usual strike partnership of Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud. 
And if Argentina are to score three goals, then surely Messi will be on the end of one or two of them. Also if Ronaldo can score a free kick, I’d bet Messi will copy him today, and even hotter prospect when you consider that Messi usually gets the better return from scoring on free kicks than Ronaldo’s one out of 50 efforts in international 
I reckon Peru will be a little overawed in their first World Cup outing since ’82, while Denmark, for me, are a serious outfit with a quality team that could propel them into the last eight. I really fancy this Danish team to go far in the tournament, and with C Ericksen they have a player that can turn a game on its head. This is an easy bet for me, Denmark to win their opener, and with relative ease. 
Nigeria are another team that can start slow too. Up against a very strong Croatia team they might get punished for this. Modric will run the show from midfield and, with a team of decent strikers, I expect Croatia to just nudge this game, possibly score in the last ten minutes or so to nick it. 
I think this might be a close game but you know what……I actually fancy Iran to sneak this one. They do have that Alireza Jahanbakhsh fella who was top scorer in Holland and with the recent controversy over their kit and football boots or rather their lack of, it might bring them closer together as a group. I am also thinking Carlos Queiroz might have a few tricks of his sleeve as well. So for all those reasons and that I dont know much about Morocco I will lump on Iran to win. Risky but fuck it, lets do it. 
In a World Cup the best advice I always say is back the World Class players to score, as usually they do, that’s why they are world class! Problem with Suarez is he is also a world class cunt, so if he doesn’t score he could just as easy get himself sent off, but its worth a punt for him to score against what shouldn’t a strong Egyptian defence.
This has a draw all over it, really it does. I would be well surprised if it is anything but a tie. If there are goals then I’d expect Ronnie to be on the score sheet too, that is the basic law of averages, better than that law in fact!
I know Russia are muck, and I actually think they might not get out of their group, but how bad must they be not to beat SA at home in their own World Cup, seriously?
The Golden boot is generally won by few goals, so why wouldn’t the winning team’s strikers not be a bad punt here? All three German strikers listed are sure to get on the scoreboard a few times during the month.
I also fancy Brazil to get to the final, but 21/10 is no bet here. So I have doubled it up with a name the finalists bet, ie-Brazil & Germany, and also a winning double chance of Brazil or Germany, which means only one of the two have to make the 
Other wise, I expect both Portugal and Spain, even after sacking their manager, to have decent World Cups. All four teams to get to the
Otherwise I have just done some long shot forecasts
There is a quiet confidence with this England team and the manager has also done very well to blood the team with a lot of new young players and letting some big names retire early. This is an England team without the big stars and big egos of English teams past. Wayne Rooney is finally gone, thank Christ, and there are no Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owens type players to raise expectations. Ok Harry Kane could arguably fill that bracket, but he is still relatively unproven at international level, and with him we have Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, Danny Rose and Dele Alli, a bunch of players who have had good seasons with their clubs the last few years, and who if they gel together can propel England far in this World Cup. 
They are in a relatively easy group. Ok Belgium are tough, but England should have too much for Tunisia and Panama, and I’d fully expect them to come out of the group without too much bother. Their last game against Belgium should be a great head to head to see who gets to play either Colombia, Senegal or Poland in round two, all beatable teams for England either way. But after that it is either Brazil or Germany in the last eight awaiting, and both teams are tough to break down. But the good thing for England is that Southgate has the team well drilled on penalties, a nice change from previous managers who didn’t think it necessary! England should get to the last eight, but after that they might need Kane to hit the form of his life to go beyond that. 
Oscar Tabarez is back for his 4th World Cup, but I thought they should have ditched him after the last fiasco, as he lost control of his own team and appeared to be a bit of a jabbering idiot at times. In times of panic and mayhem you need strong leadership and he was found badly wanting.