As the two teams are about to meet for the first time since the 1986 World Cup, when Morocco gained a 3-1 victory, Portugal coach Fernando Santos has encouraged his squad to reach “Euro 2016 levels.”
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Despite the fact that the Portuguese top player, Cristiano Ronaldo, has already got three World Cup 2018 goals in his bag, Santos expects the footballers not to relax and improve their performance in certain areas.
“Morocco are an excellent team, one of the best in Africa, and they have an excellent coach in Hervé Renard. We have to be very focused and intense in our play and, if we play like we can do, we will win. We have to play like we did in the European Championship two years ago. […] Portugal have the capacity to do better than we played against Spain and I hope we can correct our mistakes,” Santos said.
Morocco, for its part, is expected to bounce back following their defeat against Iran after forward Aziz Bouhaddouz scored a late-game own goal. Reflecting on the forthcoming match against Portugal, Morocco coach Hervé Renard said that stopping Ronaldo would be difficult.
“Even if you want to draw up plans for Ronaldo, he always finds a way out or makes a difference or puts his team back on the right track. He’s absolutely exceptional. Perhaps that word isn’t even strong enough but you have to do everything to stop him.”
At the same time, Renard noted that focusing solely on the Portuguese captain would be wrong, because they “are the European champions.”
The vast majority of social media users have bet odds and tips on the Portuguese star’s performance:
There were those who offered their own predictions for the match, with some sharing them under the hashtag #CokeScoreChallenge:
And while some cheered for Team Morocco…
…others forecast Portugal’s win:
Meanwhile, Diwa, the Moroccan “Donkey of Destiny,” who lives at the SPANA veterinary center in Marrakech, made a prediction by choosing between two buckets of hay, each bedecked with the flag of the two sides. And Diwa rooted for the Euro 2016 winners:
Portugal will take on Morocco at the 78,000-seat Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow at 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).