I suspect there would be many people, say the population of Portugal, who would deny that Portugal was a team where 10 guys all try to either pass the ball to Cristiano Ronaldo or feign injury to get a free kick that Ronaldo will take. I've accused Argentina of the same thing and they had the decency to put a goalscorer other than Messi on the sheet in game 1.
Ronaldo has all 3 of Portugal's goals so far and in the first few minutes of this match against Morocco added a 4th. He headed in from a corner and offered his trademark celebration but even that has the smell of "adore me". Which is silly because he adores himself far more than any other human could.
The thing is that an early goal does tend to open the game up and in particular if the team who is a goal down are in danger of following Egypt out the door as teams who have lost all hope of progressing past the group stage. Of course Portugal only have a draw to show for their efforts so far so they're keen to keep the scoreline as it stands which lends itself to the approach of "well, we'll defend well and if we get a chance at the other end great, if not we're still winning as long as we don't concede a goal". So Morocco spent a great deal of the first half peppering the Portuguese area with crosses which, in truth, never really amounted to much. At the other end Portugal managed a chance or two to extend their lead also without success.
You felt that Morocco's endeavour deserved some sort of reward, but you have to admire the pragmatism of the part of Ronaldo + 10 other guys to be able to stem that flow of attack from being nothing more than an assault on the possession stats.
The second half began in much the same fashion as the first ended. With the referee's whistle and a series of Moroccan attacks being repelled, one way or another, by the other 10 guys who were not Ronaldo.
It's harsh for Morocco because really they could have won both the matches they lost but when you can't put the ball into the net in 3 hours of football... well that makes it hard to win games.
The Uruguay v Saudi Arabia game was a lot more even than I expected but not exactly packed with highlights. So it came as a surprise when Uruguay scored from a corner, indeed the scorer, Suarez, at first glance appeared to be hit by the ball more than the ball hit him. Ultimately it was the fault of the keeper for having the corner sail over his head as he tried to slap it away and land at Suarez' feet at the far post.
The only other action of note in that half was Taiseer Al Jassam trying to do the splits as he was looking for the shooting chance to put Saudi Arabia back on level terms. However just as anyone who isn't Jean Claude van Damme he just busted his hamstring and had to be subbed off.
The second half, much like the earlier Portugal v Morocco game, was a case of one team valiantly trying to equalise with a wealth of possession but few actual chances at goal. The other was happy to soak up the pressure and take the odd chance here or there. Now Saudi Arabia join Egypt and Morocco as confirmed departures from Russia.
The final match of the night was the Spain v Iran encounter which certainly played out much as you'd expect. Spain had the bulk of possession and Iran stuck to what they are good at, which is to defend the living daylights out of this game.
With a few tense moments (but not too tense) that was the story of the first half.
In the second Spain redoubled their effort and managed more shots in the first 5 minutes of the second half than in all of the first. Within the first 10 they had the goal they'd been denied for so long. It was a simple enough looking thing with a turn and a shot by Diego Costa rolling into the net but replays show all sorts of ricochets. After that you assumed it was just a question of how much Spain would win by.
Which is why it was surprising that Iran scored from a goalmouth scramble on a free kick. However the linesman flagged for offside and the VAR confirmed that the goal should be ruled out but not before the Iranian team had some deserved celebrations.
An almost comical goal mouth scramble came close to doubling Spain's lead and the most curious thing about that was the corner that led to it was played along the ground along the goal line. You don't see that a lot. Usually because there's someone there to defend that.
Iran managed to make Spain worry a bit, notably with a header that fizzed over the crossbar but really it was the kind of worry you have about being struck by lightning in a storm. It's possible... but unlikely. Iran can still qualify is they manage to stop Ronaldo from scoring :-)
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