Group B of the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

took place from 15 to 25 June 2018. The group consisted of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. The top two teams, Spain and Portugal, advanced to the round of 16.

Teams

;Notes

Standings

In the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

: *The winners of Group B,

, advanced to play the runners-up of

Group A Group A is a set of motorsport regulations administered by the FIA covering production derived touring cars for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles wer ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. *The runners-up of Group B,

, advanced to play the winners of

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

Matches

All times listed are local time.

Morocco vs Iran

2018 FIFA World Cup Group B march IRN-MAR 25

The two teams had never met before. Amine Harit fired wide with a volley from the edge of the penalty area after two minutes. Younès Belhanda and

Medhi Benatia Medhi Amine El Mouttaqi BenatiaThough the traditional Arabic spelling is "Mehdi", he spells his name "Medhi". See, for examplehis Twitter accountKarim Ansarifard to scuff his shot when clean through on goal.

Sardar Azmoun Sardar Azmoun ( (Sardâr Âzmun); born 1 January 1995) is an Iranian professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for UAE Pro League club Shabab Al Ahli Club, Shabab Al Ahli and the Iran na ...

then latched onto Omid Ebrahimi's through ball, but his shot was too low and

Munir Mohamedi Munir Mohand Mohamedi El Kajoui (; born 10 May 1989), known simply as Munir, is a professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Botola Pro club RS Berkane and the Morocco national ...

saved low with his feet. In the final 10 minutes

Hakim Ziyech Hakim Ziyech (; ; ; born 19 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a Winger (association football), right winger or an attacking midfielder. He most recently played for Qatar Stars League club Al-Duhail SC, Al-Duhail, before leavin ...

lashed the ball towards the bottom-left corner of the net from 20 yards but Alireza Beiranvand stopped the ball. In the last minutes, Ehsan Hajsafi's delivery from the left was met by a header from Aziz Bouhaddouz that flew into the left corner of his own net. Iran won just their second match at the World Cup (D3 L8), with this is their first victory since beating the United States 2–1 in June 1998. Iran did not attempt a single shot in the second half and were the first team since

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

to score a goal in a half of World Cup football without attempting a shot. Iran also maintained their unbeaten streak against CAF teams in the World Cup, having drawn

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

1–1 in 2006 and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

0–0 in 2014; while this was also Iran's first ever victory against any Arab team in the World Cup.

Portugal vs Spain

The two teams had met in 35 previous matches, including in the round of 16 of the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

, won by Spain 1–0. Their most recent meeting was in the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th UEFA European Championship, European Championship for List of men's national association football teams#UEFA (Europe), men's ...

semi-finals, when Spain won 4–2 on penalties after a goalless draw in normal time.

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

scored with an early penalty, winning it after he was fouled by Nacho inside the box.

Diego Costa Diego da Silva Costa (, ; born 7 October 1988) is a professional Association football, footballer who most recently played as a Striker (association football), striker for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Grêmio FBPA, Grêmio. Costa be ...

then twisted and turned away from two Portugal defenders to score with a low shot to the left corner which brought the two sides level. But just before the break,

David de Gea David de Gea Quintana (; born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina. Considered one of the best keepers of his generation, he is known for his reflexes and shot-stopping capabilitie ...

fumbled a Ronaldo shot from outside the penalty box through his gloves and over the line. Costa scored his second equaliser of the night just after the restart from close range before Nacho scored with a right foot half-volley in off the post from the edge of the penalty box, his first goal for Spain. As the clock ticked down, however,

Gerard Piqué Gerard Piqué Bernabeu (born 2 February 1987) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He is considered to be one of the best defenders of his generation. Initially a talented student athlete at Barcelona's La ...

brought down Ronaldo just outside the box, with the Portugal star completing the scoring and his hat-trick with a free-kick into the top right corner of the net. Ronaldo became the fourth player to score in four different World Cup tournaments (

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

) after

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German Association football, footballer and football official. As a Striker (association football), striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the Ger ...

and

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, ; born Mirosław Marian Klose; 9 June 1978) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg. A Forward (as ...

, and also the first to score in eight consecutive World Cups and

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. At age 33, Ronaldo also became the oldest hat-trick scorer in the World Cup, surpassing Rob Rensenbrink of the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, who scored three times against Iran in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, aged 30. With this result, Spain has not won any opening matches since 2006, having lost to Switzerland 0–1 in 2010 and the Netherlands 1–5 in 2014.

Portugal vs Morocco

The two teams had met previously only once, a group stage game in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, won by Morocco 3–1. João Moutinho swung in a cross from the right after a short corner and

headed the ball powerfully past goalkeeper

from six yards out and into the middle of the goal to open the scoring in the 4th minute. Ronaldo played

Gonçalo Guedes Gonçalo Manuel Ganchinho Guedes (; born 29 November 1996) is a Portuguese professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger or Forward (association football), forward for club Wolverhampton Wa ...

into the box but Munir made a one-handed save. Ronaldo shot over the crossbar when Bernardo Silva's mishit presented him with a shooting chance on the edge of the box early in the second half.

Rui Patrício Rui Pedro dos Santos Patrício (; born 15 February 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for UAE Pro League side Al Ain and the Portugal national team. He is often nicknamed "São Patrício" (''St.'' ''Patric ...

then made a save to preserve Portugal's lead when

's free-kick was headed towards goal by Younès Belhanda, the goalkeeper diving to palm the ball away from danger. Ziyech shot another set-piece just over the crossbar from 25 yards. Nordin Amrabat and

Medhi Benatia Medhi Amine El Mouttaqi BenatiaThough the traditional Arabic spelling is "Mehdi", he spells his name "Medhi". See, for examplehis Twitter account With their second loss in a row, Morocco became the first team to be eliminated from the

. 85 international goals for Ronaldo is a new record for a European player, with Ronaldo passing

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

to hold the record outright. Ronaldo has become the first Portuguese player since José Torres in 1966 to score a goal with his right foot, left foot and head in a single World Cup tournament. Ronaldo is the first player to score five consecutive World Cup goals for his team since

Oleg Salenko Oleg Anatolyevich Salenko (, ; born 25 October 1969) is a Russian-Ukrainian former footballer who played as a forward. He scored a record five goals in a group-stage match in the 1994 World Cup, helping him earn the Golden Boot as joint-top t ...

for Russia in 1994.

Iran vs Spain

The two teams had never met before. Spain had their first attempt on goal in the 25th minute when

David Silva David Josué Jiménez Silva (born 8 January 1986) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played mainly as a Midfielder#Central midfielder, central or an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder and o ...

's long-range free-kick was held by Alireza Beiranvand. Five minutes later, Silva's volley sailed narrowly over the crossbar from six yards out. At the start of the 2nd half,

's close-range effort was blocked and then Beiranvand palmed away

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami. A deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay through short and calm passe ...

' curled effort from the edge of the penalty area. Karim Ansarifard's effort from a corner flashed into

's side netting. In the 54th minute,

picked up

Andrés Iniesta Andrés Iniesta Luján (; born 11 May 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder and spent most of his career at La Liga club Barcelona. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was known ...

's pass inside the area and saw Ramin Rezaeian's attempted clearance ricochet off his leg and past Beiranvand low into the left corner of the net. Saeid Ezatolahi pulled Iran level shortly after the hour but his close-range finish after a scramble was ruled out courtesy of VAR after Rezaeian was found in an offside position. Mehdi Taremi's back-post header fizzed over De Gea's crossbar seven minutes from time as Iran pushed for an equaliser, but Spain held on for a 1–0 win. Iran did not manage a shot on target for the first time in 14 World Cup games.

Iran vs Portugal

Iran and Portugal match at the FIFA World Cup 2018 3

The two teams had met twice, most recently in a group stage game in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

, won by Portugal 2–0. In the 45 minute,

Ricardo Quaresma Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo (; born 26 September 1983) is a Portuguese former professional association football, footballer who played as a Winger (association football), winger. He began his career at Sporting CP and went on to play for ...

cut in from the right before scoring with a curling shot off the outside of his right foot that looped over Alireza Beiranvand into the top-left corner. Saeid Ezatolahi's foul on

won Portugal a penalty, which Ronaldo shot low into the right, enabling Beiranvand to get down and make a stop. Iran then managed to get a penalty in stoppage time after referee used VAR to determine that Cédric's handball from

's header had been intentional, which Karim Ansarifard converted high to his right. The game ended in a 1−1 draw, with Portugal advancing and Iran eliminated. Quaresma (34 years, 272 days old) is the oldest player to score on his first World Cup start since

Yahya Golmohammadi Yahya Golmohammadi (; born 19 March 1971) is an Iranian association football, football coach and a former player who coaches Persian Gulf Pro League club Foolad F.C., Foolad. He is one of only eleven Iranians to score in a FIFA World Cup, World ...

(35 years, 84 days old), who did so for Iran in 2006 against Mexico. Iran's goal - scored after 92 minutes and 48 seconds - was the latest goal Portugal have ever conceded at the World Cup. This was Iran's best performance ever in the FIFA World Cup, winning four points and having earned their first ever draw against any European opponents since 1978, when Iran drew 1–1 to Scotland.

Spain vs Morocco

Despite their geographical proximity, the two teams had faced each other only in two opportunities, both were in the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between ...

qualification phase and won by Spain. In the 14th minute, a mix-up between

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captain (association football), captains Liga MX club C.F. Monterrey, Monterrey. Regarded as one of the gr ...

and

allowed

Khalid Boutaïb Khalid Boutaïb (; born 24 April 1987) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Ligue 2 club Pau FC, Pau. Born in France, he represented Morocco national football team, ...

to steal possession on the halfway line, burst through on goal and finish through the legs of

. Iniesta and

combined to set up Isco for a close-range finish that tied the scores five minutes later. Boutaïb was clear again in the 25th minute when Morocco took a quick throw-in, but De Gea stopped the ball. Nordin Amrabat, Manuel da Costa and Mbark Boussoufa were all booked in three-minute period before

headed over the crossbar from Isco's corner. Amrabat's strike from at least 25 yards out bounced off the woodwork in the 55th minute. Isco's looping header dipped under the crossbar, but Romain Saïss made a clearance,

heading wide from the resulting Isco corner. Youssef En-Nesyri scored home a header to give Morocco the lead. And when

Iago Aspas Iago Aspas Juncal (; born 1 August 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Celta, which he captains. He has spent most of his career with Celta, appearing in 524 official games across 16 seasons and ...

turned home Dani Carvajal's cross from the right after a short corner – the goal given by VAR after a long delay – Spain was tied in the first minute of added time. Boutaïb's goal for Morocco was their first goal at the finals since 1998, when Salaheddine Bassir scored in a 3–0 win over Scotland. Ramos made his 16th appearance for Spain at the World Cup, overtaking

Xavi Xavi () is a Catalan given name, usually used as a nickname for Xavier. Notable people with the name include: Football * Xavi Hernández (born 1980), Spanish football manager and former player * Xavi Andorrà (born 1985), Andorran footballe ...

as their most capped outfield player in the competition. Spain have failed to win their final group game at a World Cup for the first time since 1982, having won the previous eight such games.

Discipline

Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers if the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows: *first yellow card: minus 1 point; *indirect red card (second yellow card): minus 3 points; *direct red card: minus 4 points; *yellow card and direct red card: minus 5 points; Only one of the above deductions were applied to a player in a single match.

References

External links

2018 FIFA World Cup Group B
FIFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Group B 2018 FIFA World Cup Portugal at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Spain at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Morocco at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Iran at the 2018 FIFA World Cup