Portugal V Morocco
(Synopsis in red)
Pregame bets:
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.
€10.00 Single
Portugal v Morocco – Anytime Goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo 4/5
For some reason I also fancy Pepe to score here. Yes i know he rarely scores, but I have visions of hims scoring with a blasting header from a corner.
€2.00 Single
Portugal v Morocco – Pepe to score a header 20/1
Final score bet, worth a quid.
€1.00 Single
Portugal v Morocco – Correct Score 3-1 14/1
Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/
I will settle for that, good old Ronnie, can always bank on him. As for Pepe, never had the chance, silly bet to be honest, anyway he is a right cunt to watch, always cheating.
Beers: Group B of Beer World Cup:
Gallas beer from Portugal was the big winner in the first day against Estrella Galicia, can it continue its good run against Morocco’s Casablanca?
V 
Had a Gallas IPA, was ok, much better than the bland lager Casablanca that has proven to be a disappointment so far in the beer world cup, a bit like their football team to be honest!
PreGame:
Portugal: The Spain-Portugal game was a great game, with everything you want in a football match, goals, great passing, top technical skills on show, and the best players performing, brilliant to watch. It was pretty much the Ronnie show, what a great hat trick against some mean looking opposition, and to score from a free kick in the end to snatch the draw, nah Ronaldo is a footballing god, no doubt about it.
Morocco, on the other hand, lost to a pretty useless Iran team, and their midfield got overrun in that game too, so I cant see how they will stop Ronaldo unless they put two men on him at all times.
I am expecting another Portugal results here, a win, but to be honest not with the same intensity. It would be mad to expect another high temp performance after last week, but Portugal should do enough to get the three points at a canter.
A more detailed review on Portugal here and on Morocco here
Jesus, Portugal score after about 5 minutes and that was about all they did in the game. Just about crossed over the line. Morocco had them on the ropes all game but didn’t have the knock out punch required to get a result in this game.
Shame really as they played well enough in the game, and in particular N Amrabat who had Guerreiro in his back pocket all day. Amrabat has played well in the two games, albeit he does tire badly, but he at least can hold his head up high with his performances so far.
And what can we say about Ronnie, what a great header, throws off his defender so easy, and powers Portugal into the lead. It pretty much stunned Morocco and it took them a good while to recover from it.
Morocco had a few chances where they could have scored an equaliser. Benatia was unlucky with a fine header, while Rui Patrício, the Portuguese GLK pulled off an amazing save to deny Belhanda, and then Benatia in the end with another free header that probably he should have did better with. They should have at least got one goal for all their effort, but that’s the marking of a good team, all chances no goal, Portugal one chance, one goal. That’s the difference!
Music to get you in the mood
DREAM CIRCUS – Going Down (Portugal) V GET BACK – SAKADOYA
Today’s game will all depend on if Mo Salah is playing. If yes then we have a real game on our hands, if not then forget it Egypt will be out. If he is playing I think he will dramatically change Egypt’s fortunes, and is sure to give the Russian defenders something to think about. Egypt, knowing they need a result, could easily beat a Russian team that were lucky that SA made them look so good, because they aren’t really. 
V 
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 For egyptDzyuba is an animal, the size of him, lol!
Warda was fairly lively for Egypt, but should have been substituted much earlier in the second as he had gone off the boil big time, not even bothering to join the attack at times. While Kahraba was lively when he came on, and the goalkeeper had an excellent game, particularly the save near the end from Cavani. Ahmed El-Shenawy looks like he might have done enough to get a move to Europe with that great display of goalkeeping (He plays with Zamalek in Egypt).
Didn’t have to wait too long in the second half for a goal as it came after a very sloppy display of goal keeping by El-Shenawy who choose not to catch a simple ball and the resulting clearance made its way back into the box and off the defender Fathy for a pathetic own goal. Two more goals came, Cheryshev, scored a well deserved second from a great assist by Fernandes, and Dzyuba, the man mountain scored a typical centre forward effort bringing the ball brilliantly down on his chest and then rifling it home bottom corner, class stuff. 
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.
For sure Robert Lewandowski is the one to watch, but I have never been convinced about him. Yes he bangs in the goals in the Bundesliga but in my mind he has never performed at the big stage, be that an international tourno or the latter stages of the CL. He was simply atrocious in the last Euros, bad form and an ever worse attitude. As captain that seeps into the rest of the team and what I see any time Poland plays is a cynical team and doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement or free flowing football. If a team can get Poland’s back up then they can definitely beat them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Senegal, in the opening game, cause them all sorts of problems. 
What are they like this time round? Well they have Sadio Mané who has had an excellent season with Liverpool, and Everton powerhouse Idrissa Gueye in defence. They are also quite lucky in that their group is one of the easiest. Poland, Japan and Colombia are all beatable on the day, and if they play as a cohesive team I’d expect them to come out of the group.
Senegal did drop the tempo a bit in the second half, but Poland didn’t react at all. And after Senegal poxed another goal from a comedy goal they kind of gave up. The goal was a mix up between midfielder Krychowiak who booted an aimless back pass towards his goalkeeper Szczesny, who wasn’t expecting it and came off his line to intercept, but he missed it and Niang got the bounce and scored into an empty net to make it two nil.
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!) 
To be fair its not only about Rodríguez, they also have a good squad too. David Ospina is decent enough in goals, Juan Cuadrado is a real work horse in midfield, and Radamel Falcao up front is the type of striker that defenders hate to play against, in your face, strong, and has the ability to smash them in from all angles, albeit he can be lazy enough in games too. But he missed the last World Cup through injury so I am sure he will want to get going this time round. 
With the bad form in mind the Japanese FA in their perceived wisdom decided to sack their manager Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic, just two months before the games. Akira Nishino is the guy now in charge and I wish him luck but that’s a crazy decision by the Japanese football association. 
This time Sweden will be at a major tournament without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their iconic centre forward. Will it harm their chances? I don’t think so, if anything it might give them more of a chance to progress. They were far too reliant on him, playing virtually everything through him, and that hindered the development of the rest of them and stopped the team from playing with a natural style. Truth be told it never really worked for them as with the big Zlatan, and his even bigger ego, they never played particularly well and did nothing at the international level with him, not even qualifying for the last two World Cups. It could be a blessing in disguise. They were good enough without him too knock out an Italian team that just expected to walk into the World Cup.
At the moment their squad dont have any star players that stand out, and they are struggling badly for form. But they weren’t expected to get out of their qualifying group ahead of the Dutch, they definitely weren’t expected to knock Italy out, and they are not expected to get up to much this time round either. Team spirit can get you far in world football. The Swedes, I wonder would it be wise to disregard them again!!
They won just four games out of ten in the qualifiers, and their form in the friendlies is intermittent. But its not all bad, they do have one player of outstanding quality, Son Heung-min of Spurs, is really the type of player that could drag the team to a victory in a tight game. He always gives 100% and his passion might rub off on the team. It certainly needs to otherwise I see the The Taeguk Warriors returning home early. 
The Korean goalkeeper, Cho Hyun-Woo, has to be commended for keeping his team in it, as he made about 3 or 4 top class saves, one a point blank save from Berg. Conversely Berg had about 3 seriously good chances to put the ball in the net and fluffed them all, poor stuff from him.
With the relativity inexperience of the Panamanian team, up against some serious heavy hitters in a strong Belgian team, a team used to playing on the big occasion, I feel that we might actually get a goal fest today. We could do with some goals, as the last few days have only seen games with a goal or two. So come on Belgium please put on a show for us.
Not long after Hazard someone manages to pass a ball (was difficult for him today) and sets up Lukaku with a chance to score, which he does with a lovely deft little chip over the goalie. A well worked goal.
Three nil is all good and well for Belgium but I saw a lot of flaws in this game today that would make me very concerned if I was a Belgian fan. One thing that can’t be excused was that Eden Hazard couldn’t give a simple pass all game, well apart from setting up the one goal, he must have lost the ball a million times in the game. He can afford to do that against Panama but will be severely punished if he does that shit v Spain or Portugal for example. And you wonder on why the manager didn’t take him off. I would begin to wonder about Martinez there. 
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,
Tunisia: Their squad doesn’t show much to excite. A few players from the local Tunisian league and quite a few that play in France, but no stand put player. Added to this fact is that they will also be losing their main striker to injury, Youssef Msakni, the top scorer in the qualifying campaign, and that further dents any chances they might have had. In a group with Belgium and England I am sorry to say I dont expect a whole lot from Tunisia. Even in the Panama game, where they might be already out at that stage, they might struggle. I fear for them, I really do, sorry Tunisia!
That penalty kind of rattled England a bit and they started to fanny around the pitch as they sometimes like to do, aimless balls and passing back and forth with no decisiveness. Always so frustrating to watch at times, these millionaire footballers so inept at playing what should be a simple game. Alli faded badly in the second, and Sterling was his usual crap self for England, and just when you were losing all hope to live, England get a corner, and to be honest you kind of felt they might jam in a goal from it. And they did. 
Ok the squad have lost Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm and Miroslav Klose and Manuel Neuer might be a bit out of form with a slow recovery from injury, but its still a squad with some serious amount of talent. Mats Hummels is still the rock in defence, Toni Kroos has stepped forward to run the show in midfield, and Thomas Müller is sure to score up front (and dive like the bitch he is!). Added to that is the fact that big things are expected of Timo Werner who has scored aplenty in the Bundesliga, and PFA Young Player of the Year Leroy Sané, who likes to bomb it up the wings. But really the thing with the German squad is that they slot into positions so easily, they have plenty of talent in all areas of the field, and can afford to take the hit of an injury to the team. Its hard to pick any weaknesses in this team. 
Rafael Márquez is back for his fifth World Cup, yes his fifth! He is a wily old player, 39 to be exact, world class in his day, but I do wonder what the hell he is doing back with the team considering his two mistakes cost Mexico in the last World Cup and got them knocked out by the Dutch. Could he not have just let it go? Actually looking at the squad, it is quite an old squad, Héctor Moreno also a rock in defence (30), Andrés Guardado (31) and Giovani dos Santos (29) back in midfield and Javier Hernández (30) upfront. This will be the final swansong for a lot of the Mexican players on the world stage. 
Can they do it this time and finally make the last eight? I dont think so. For two good reasons. Germany and Brazil stand in their way of doing that. Today is a big test for them. Get a result against the Germans today and they have a massive chance, but that would be a huge achievement for them and to be honest not likely at all.