On Wednesday June 20th at 2pm Eastern Time, Iran and Spain will face off in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup. As the underdog in this match, Iran will have the tall task of containing a Spanish offence that features Diego Costa, Alvaro Morata, David Silva and Isco. World Cup Betting odds have Spain as one of the favorites to win it all, as those four made up 4 of the top five scorers in the UEFA Group G qualifying rounds. Costa scored twice in Spain's first World Cup game against Portugal, making him one of the early goal scoring leaders in the tournament. Fortunately for the Iranians, defense is their specialty. They lead their qualifying group in goals against, and held Morocco off the board in their first game.
Spain
While Costa had a superb game and right-back Nacho had what is considered the best goal of the tournament so far, there were several factors that did not go Spain's way in the first game. Ronaldo's penalty call was questionable, Goaltender David De Gea made a terrible blunder on the second goal, and Ronaldo's third goal was a marvelous, indefensible strike that left Spain out to dry. Spain will count on their luck being better for this second game, and manager Fernando Hierro is standing behind De Gea despite the error.
Iran
A defense-minded team coached by Carlos Queiroz, to date Iran has only let up two goals through all of qualifying and one World Cup game in Russia. They will need this same defensive stinginess against what is maybe one of the most potent offences at the World Cup. Fortunately for Iran, they have had success against more talented teams in the past. As participants in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Iran drew 0-0 with Nigeria and almost drew with Argentina until Leo Messi scored a goal in extra time.
Friday's win was Iran's second in World Cup history, the last coming in 1998 against the United States. In order to get their third World Cup win in this game, they will need a minor miracle from key players like Winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Striker Sardar Azmoun and midfielder Saman Ghoddos. In the Morocco match, Iran was outshot 13 to nine and only had possession of the ball for 32% of the match.
Match Overview
Spain is a heavy favorite not only to win this game, but to with their group and advance far into the late stages of the World Cup. Open lines on our site show Spain as one of the top four teams to win outright, while Iran is among one of the weaker sides, ranking in the bottom 6. Unless Iran can crank up its defense to 11 and somehow contain the multi-pronged attack that Spain has, there is little to no chance that Iran doesn't lose by more than a couple of goals. Further, after some disappointing efforts in their last few major tournaments, Spain is surely eager to makes sure Russia 2018 ends in a success, and Iran is no more than a speed bump en route to that goal.
