Spain wraps up its group stage games with a Monday, June 25th match against Morocco at 2pm Eastern time in Kaliningrad, Russia. Favored to win the group, according to skybook.ag, Spain will be the favorite in this game as well. For more information on open lines and group betting, check out our World Cup Betting. There have only been two previous meetings between these countries, both way back in 1961. Spain won both of those matches.
Spain
Spain comes into the World Cup as one of three favorites to win it all, right behind Germany and Brazil. They have loads of talent and have not disappointed so far in their two games at the World Cup. Their first game was a high-octane tie against Portugal and their second was a show of resilience against a stifling Iran defense. Regardless, they are still in a position where they need to win their final game or risk elimination. The 3-3 tie against Portugal complicated this group in the sense that now Iran, having won their game against Morocco, can advance with win against Portugal if Spain ties or loses this game. Meanwhile Spain, even with all of their talent and success, have had their share of upsets in recent memory. They were upset in the group stage of the 2014 World Cup and were ousted in the round of 16 at the UEFA championships in 2016. So it's not completely out of the question that Diego Costa and company end their 2018 World Cup bid in this game.
Morocco
Morocco has had a tough go so far in the 2018 World Cup, their first appearance at the tournament in 20 years. First, they were drawn into a group where they had almost no chance of advancing, and the one game that they had a legitimate chance to win, they lost in hearbreaking fashion with and own goal in the final minute. Having now been eliminated, they are playing this match with nothing to lose, which may be a good thing. All of the pressure has been removed, and if they were to pull off a victory here, they could at least walk away saying that they pulled off the biggest upset of the entire tournament.
Match Overview
Personnel-wise, there is no comparison here. Spain will be featuring experienced talents such as Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta and David Silva in the midfield combined with younger, more dynamic players like Isco up front to complement the star power of Diego Costa. Morocco will have to contest with a group of relative unknowns, but after their qualifying run where they didn't concede a single goal, there is no doubt that this is a tight-knit group that has bought into manager Herve Renard's system 100%. Attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech of Ajax will be counted on for generating offence for Morocco, and Captain Medhi Benatia of Juventus will be responsible for guiding a defense against a World Cup competitor of Spain's caliber, which will be a tall task to say the least.
