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Morocco vs. Iran / World Cup – The first match of the group B of this year's World Cup in Russia, will be played between Morocco and Iran, which in the competition for the current European champion Portugal and the former world champion Spain, certainly apply for absolute outsiders when it comes to placement in the knockout stage. But that does not mean that they will surrender in advance in this fight for the first two places in the group, especially if they succeed in winning in their first mutual duel in history, because then it will then be much easier to play in the next two games.

Morocco

When it comes to the team of Morocco, it certainly has a role of slight favourite in this duel with Iran, primarily because they have a much better team of players than their rivals, given that most of this country's representatives play in European clubs. However, what is their handicap compared to their first opponent in this championship is the lack of experience of playing at the world's biggest competitions, since the last time they played at World Cup was in 1998 in France. However, they can boast that they are coming to Russia after a great series of 18 games without defeat, and the biggest merits for that belong to their coach Renard, who took over the team just over two years ago and brought  Morocco to quarterfinals of last year's African Cup of Nations.

As for qualifiers for this World Cup, they did a terrific job because they were in a very strong competition with Ivory Coast, Gabon and Mali ended up as the first in the group, with the result of three wins and three defeats, meaning they completely deservedly won the placement in Russia. However, after that they were already in the group stage appointed two very strong national teams, Spain and Portugal, so they are practically facing a mission impossible when it comes to placement in the next round. However, coach Renard points out that they are not afraid of anyone, especially since they have not lost for a very long time, while they are only interested in three points against Iran. We should add that the injured striker Feddal and the offensive midfielders Bouffal and Labyad, did not even come to this competition.

Probable lineups Morocco: Munir – Dirar, Saiss, Benatia, Hakimi – El Ahmadi – N.Amrabat, Belhanda, Boussoufa, Ziyech – El Kaabi

Iran

Unlike Morocco who returns to the big scene after 20 years of absence, this is the second consecutive appearance for the Iranians at world championships, with the proviso that they four years ago in Brazil won only one point in the group stage. However, it has become a tradition for them, because they managed to win at least one point at all four appearances on the World Cup, while in 1998 they even made their only victory in France, and that was over the team of USA. As for their performance in the final round of qualifiers for this World Cup, they have made six wins and four draws in 10 games and thus became the first Asian team to compete in Russia.

Just like in Brazil, they are led by Portuguese expert Carlos Queiro, which means he knows this team very well, and they have a much more quality players in the attack than in their defence, so we would not be surprised if their matches in this championship turn out to be pretty effective. However, in the last friendly matches, this was only seen at moments, when they played 2-1 at home over Algiers and 1-0 over Uzbekistan and Lithuania, while they were defeated with 1-0 from Tunisia and with 2-1 from Turkey.

Probable lineups Iran: Beiranvand – Rezaeian, Pouraliganji, Cheshmi, Mohammadi – Hajsafi, Shojaei – Jahanbakhsh, Ansarifard, Taremi – Azmoun

Verdict:

This duel of the group B could ultimately be comforting in this third place fight, given that Portugal and Spain are certainly big favourites when it comes to placement in the knockout stage. But both are hoping that a possible win in this match could still make them competitors for one of the first two places in the group, and it is our opinion that Morocco is much closer to achievement of that goal, because they have not been defeated in the last 18 matches.

Pick: Asian Handicap 0 Morocco 1.54 - 54/100 @1XBet