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FULL-TIME! Spain 2-2 Morocco: It’s all over and somehow Spain have nicked a draw and finish as Group B winners. They will play Russia in the last 16 on Sunday. Portugal will face Uruguay.
GOAL! Spain 2-2 Morocco (Aspas 92’): Spain have equalised thanks to Iago Aspas and a small helping of VAR. And Iran have equalised against Portugal so Spain are topping the group.
GOAL! Spain 1-2 Morocco (Youssef En-Nesyri 81’): WOW! We look set for a shock here as Morocco have gone ahead. Youssef En-Nesyri outjumped Sergio Ramos and planted a header past David De Gea to put Morocco into the lead.
SECOND HALF KICKOFF! Spain 1-1 Morocco: La Roja need to win and score more goals than Portugal, who are winning 1-0 against Iran, to win the group. To do that they just need to be more clinical with their finishing, because they’re creating some really good chances.
HALF-TIME, Spain 1-1 Morocco: This has been a lot tougher than advertised for Spain. Morocco have not stopped fighting despite the early exit, took the lead and are making things difficult. They’ve fouled and been booked a lot, but it’s been effective. La Roja have a lot of possession and had some good chances to take the lead, but it’s all even at the break. Fun game this one.
GOAL! SPAIN 1-1 Morocco (Isco 19’): INIESTA REDEMPTION! After a bad mistake the Barcelona legend makes a trademark run around the Moroccan defense and gives a beautiful assist to Isco who fires home the equalizer.
GOAL! Spain 0-1 Morocco (Boutaïb 14’): Morocco take the lead! A shocking mistake by Andrés Iniesta puts Boutaïb through on goal with only David De Gea to beat, and the striker has no problem scoring the opener. Spain are still qualifying at the moment, but it’s getting tricky.
KICKOFF! Spain 0-0 Morocco: Come on, boys! Let’s score some goals and win the group!
LINEUPS
SPAIN
Starting XI: De Gea; Carvajal, Piqué, Ramos, Alba; Thiago, Busquets, Iniesta; Silva, Costa, Isco
Bench: Kepa (GK), Reina (GK), Nacho, Saúl, Koke, Rodrigo, Vázquez, Odriozola, Azpilicueta, Monreal, Apsas, Asensio
MOROCCO
Starting XI: Munir; Dirar, Da Costa, Saïss, Hakimi; El Ahmada, Boussoufa; Amrabat, Belhanda, Ziyech; Boutaïb
Bench: Bounou (GK), Tagnaouti (GK), Mendyl, Benatia, El Kaabi, Fajr, Harit, En-Nesiry, Bouhaddouz, Amrabat, Carcela, Ait Bennasser
The third week of the World Cup starts today, and it’s actually a little sad. We’ll no longer have three live games throughout the day, and 16 nations are about to go home. But it’s also really fun because the real decisive matches begin, and then the World Cup turns into a marvelous bloodbath.
Many Barcelona players are probably going through to the knockout stages, and four of them are part of a team that could be the big favorites going into the Round of 16: Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Andrés Iniesta (forever a Barça player) were part of two very impressive performances from Spain, who don’t really seem to be missing their manager and played great football in their opening two group games.
Their final group stage fixture is against Morocco, who are already eliminated despite playing some great stuff themselves. La Roja need to score more goals than Portugal to secure first place if both teams win their matches, so Spain will need to take this game very seriously and not worry about the opposition.
And it would be nice if one of the Barça players scored for Spain. So far this has been the Madrid show with Diego Costa from Atlético and Nacho from Real finding the net, so let’s hope a Blaugrana gets a goal in this one. Let’s all follow this one together with a fun live blog once the team news are out!
MATCH INFO
Date/Time: Monday, June 25, 2018, 8pm CET (Barcelona), 7pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 2pm EST, 11am PST (USA), 11.30pm IST (India)
Venue: Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad
HOW TO WATCH, STREAM WORLD CUP
How to watch on TV: Fox Sports 1 (USA), BBC One (UK), SuperSport 3 (Nigeria), Sony ESPN (India), TSN (Canada), others
How to stream: BBC iPlayer (UK), TSN GO (Canada), FuboTV (7-day free trial, click here to sign up)
Matchday Thread Rules
We don’t have a lot of rules here, but there are a few things to keep in mind when joining our matchday threads:
Even if the referee sucks or we lose the game, no swearing. It’s just unnecessary. Also, don’t discuss illegal streaming links. Those who do will be warned, and those who post links will be banned. Finally, be nice to each other. This is a Barcelona community and we don’t need to offend one another, especially when it’s the World Cup.
Have fun with the game! Forever and ever, no matter the competition, VISCA EL BARÇA!