At the end of the first round of fixtures for every team in the WC, it is time to head into the next. The second round will leave the teams with knowing exactly what they need to do, and no room for error whatsoever. Matchday 7 of the World Cup will see Portugal take on Morocco (17:30 IST) and Spain face off against Iran (23:30 IST) from Group B, while in Group A Uruguay take on Saudi Arabia (20:30 IST) in their quest to qualify for the next round.
A win for Uruguay here will see them and Russia become the first teams to qualify for the next round, while Portugal and Spain will want to get to the coveted No.1 spot in the group. There are several stars in the line-ups who are capable of turning the game on its head, and here’s a look at 3 of them:
Hakim Ziyech
The creative star from Morocco, he had a brilliant first half against Iran in the opener, but a below-par second half ensured that Morocco did not run away with the match like they threatened to in the first 30 odd minutes.
Ziyech was the most likely to score for the team, but had his attempts brilliantly thwarted by the Iranian keeper, and will find Rui Patricio just as annoyingly hard to score against. But his pace and creativity will surely to be a handful for the ageing Portuguese defence, especially the centre backs.
Bernardo Silva
Bernardo Silva flew under the radar in Portugal’s first game because of Ronaldo’s heroics, but looking at the way Iran was set up against Morocco, his creativity in midfield will be vital to Portugal getting all 3 points here.
Operating on the right, Silva will come up against Saiss and Hakimi, both of whom are much more physical than him and will not be afraid to use that to their advantage to stop the play-maker.
Isco
Diego Costa might have been the one who got on the scoresheet for Spain in their opener, but the Iranian defence is much more physical than what the Portuguese put up, and against them, a technical player like Isco is much more likely to be the star.
Isco’s thunderous shot rattled the crossbar against Portugal, and he was unlucky not to score there. Against Iran however, the game will not be as open and chances will be few and far between.