Portugal V Spain

(Synopsis in red)

Pregame bets:

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!

€10.00 Single
Portugal v Spain – Anytime Goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo 7/5

€6.00 Single
Portugal v Spain – Draw 12/5

Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/

What can I say, Ronnie always does the business for me, love the guy. Great to be up on one bet 3 minutes into the game. Love it. Get in!

Beers: Group B of Beer World Cup: 

World Cup of Beer Group B

V      

Gallas Wit Cinco de Abril Versus Estrella Galicia. Although I enjoyed both beers, I will give this one to Gallas, as it was just that bit more fruity and tasteful.  1-0 to Portugal. 

PreGame:

What a mouth watering clash we have and its only day two. Spain V Portugal, ex World Champions versus current European Champions. Will be really interesting to see how the effect of losing their manager a few days before the World Cup, how that will play out in the minds of the Spanish players. 

Spain seemed to have settled back to their old routine, of winning games and playing nice football, so this shock decision might unhinge all their good work of the last few years. You would imagine that top players wouldn’t be affected, but it is an excuse for not playing well that could be used. Will be hard for Hierro, who has steeped in at short notice, to stamp his authority in less than a 2 days! 

Portugal looking at all this must be crying mamma from the heavens, surely this will give them a big boost going into this clash of the titans. Ronnie also should know the ins and outs of the Spanish defence as he goes up against them or plays with them every other week, I am sure he is raring to put one over his club-mates. 

But Portugal dont have the depth to their squad as Spain though, so I think the most likely result would be a draw. Two defences that will cancel each other out in a game that could be very likely a cagey affair. 

A more detailed review on Portugal here and on Spain here

What 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. 

A very lively start by Portugal resulted in Ronaldo getting a rather soft penalty, but it was a penalty nonetheless. A good penalty to put Portugal into an early lead. This rattled the Spanish and it took them a short while to get back into the game. Not long after Ronaldo set up Guerreiro with a peach of a pass only for the Portuguese number five to fluff his lines. The look of disgust on Ronnie’s face was priceless, especially after he had sprinted 40 yards to get near the box. He really is playing besides some duff players on this Portugal team. 

On the other side, Iniesta and Isco were beginning to dominate the game for Spain, and the tide turned when Diego Costa scored a great goal to equalise, despite being shadowed by two Portuguese defenders he still manged to get his shot away, and leaving the child Pepe lying on the ground like a buffoon. Class.

But just when you thought that Spain had gotten control of the game, Ronnie steps up again and unleashes a rocket. Ok De Gea should have held it as it was straight at him, but he let it slip into the net and Portugal went top again.  I felt a little sorry for de Gea as he had a good game, and was great to see him pinning the ball around showing his ball skills, ala Nueur. Great when goalkeepers do that. 

Thought William Carvalho did well for Portugal, as a holding midfielder, and had a general calming influence for the Portuguese players, and was also impressed with Thiago for Spain when he came on, lively and doing good work on the flanks. 

Talking about wingplay, it was here that a cross came in for Diego Costa to nab his second from close range, to equalise again, a typical poachers goal.  And then not long after we got a great strike from Nacho for Spain to take the lead. What a turnaround! But Spain at this time were playing some truly outstanding touch football, was like looking at the Spain of a few years ago.

It was all Spain, but then Portugal got a free kick and you just sensed that this was going to be Ronaldo’s night. Now we all know that his record of taking free kicks is rubbish at tournaments, but we also sense that he knows what he is doing. I, myself, was thinking at the time, surely he must be scoring them in training, to keep taking them all the time even when he fucks them up. But he is a confident fucker, and sure enough he managed to get it up and over the wall, to get his hat-trick and Portugal’s third. What a great way to finish a great game. 

One more thing I would like to add. The atmosphere at this game was great, all noise and fun from the crowd. Compared to the Iran – Morocco game where all I could hear was those fucking vuvuzelas buzzing away like a drone. Tells you a lot about the football culture, or lack of it, in those two nations. A good atmosphere adds to the game, the players can feed off it, it is part of the package. So enough with those vuvuzelas, please!!!!!!

Music to get you in the mood

AVIADOR DRO – 001 Nuclear sí (Spain) V  GNR – Quando Eu Morrer (Portugal)

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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: 

World Cup of Beer Group B

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 (Morocco)

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Egypt V Uruguay

(Synopsis in red)

Pregame bets:

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.

€10.00 Single
Egypt v Uruguay – Anytime Goalscorer Luis Suarez 10/11

Ah balls, didn’t quite work out there, Luis decided to play his b game, should have had at least two goals. Needs to step it up a bit for the next game as he was so great today. 

Full betting review here>https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/top-bets-of-the-world-cup-2018/

Beers: Group A of Beer World Cup: 

https://www.thisdrinkinglife.com/world-cup-of-beer-group-a/

Who is set to win the battle of the beers? Eh, no one. Couldn’t source a beer from the mainly Islamic nation of Egypt so no shock there. But a little surprising that Uruguay is one of the few South or central American nations that dont do beer very well, a bit disappointing there. Anyhow will stock up on some grub for this game, and relax over beers later in the day with the other two games. 

Had a nice cup of tea and a ham and cheese baguette, lovely stuff!

PreGame:

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?

It is vitally important that Egypt have their star man playing. He has had such a good season and what a great way to top it all off with a chance to shine in the World Cup for his country. And boy do Egypt need their star man today. Uruguay are a tough team to start off against and Egypt aren’t exactly blessed with a lot of household names so it will be tough without the “Egyptian Messi”.

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.

Luckily for Uruguay they face an Egypt that have a star player with an injury worry. This makes their task much easier. I fancy their defenders would be eager to kick Salah up and down the park today, if he does attempt to play. 

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. 

A more detailed review on Egypt here and on Uruguay here 

Ok, not the best game at all. Shame that Egypt couldn’t have held out, their defence certainly played well enough to get a draw in the game. Egypt were very well set up, and I kind of understand the manager not wanting to play Salah, but perhaps he could have brought him on for the last ten minutes or so, if only to send some shivers down the Uruguayan defence.

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).

As for Uruguay, they got out of jail today with that 89th winner from Gimenez. Godín was a rock in defence and was pissed with his midfield and forwards that more often than not he actually had to get things motoring by going forward into the Egyptian half of the pitch. Cavani was ok, but hell Suarez needs to cop on for the next game, enough off the fucking childishness. 

Music to get you in the mood

Fede Graña & Los Prolijos “Que voy a hacer” (Uruguay) V Aly & Fila with Emma Hewitt – You & I (Aly & Fila Club Mix) (Egypt)

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