Spain play Morocco on Monday night in Kaliningrad, knowing that victory would see them finish top of Group B. With Portugal and Iran also playing each other at the same time, Spain know that a draw against the already-eliminated Morocco would see them qualify from the group and play either Uruguay or Russia in the second round.
Spain got their first win of the tournament against Iran on Wednesday night, although it could have been a very different result. Diego Costa scored a somewhat fortunate goal, before Iran equalised through Saeid Ezatolahi, only for VAR to rule it out for offside. However, that win kept their unbeaten start to the tournament alive and Costa has now scored three goals in the competition.
On the other hand, Morocco are officially eliminated from the tournament, despite having been quite unlucky in their two games so far. They dominated the match against Portugal and created 15 chances, but only four were on target. They haven’t disgraced themselves in the competition, but can consider themselves unfortunate.
Spain vs. Morocco Predictions
Despite some of their mesmeric play at times in the tournament, Spain haven’t fully convinced yet and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them concede at some point in this game. However, they’re potent going forward and should have enough to get over the line against Morocco.
Spain vs. Morocco Betting Tips
- Spain to win 3-1: 11/1
- Morocco to score first and lose: 33/4
- Diego Costa to score 2 goals or more: 23/4
Head to Head
- Spain and Morocco have faced each other just twice before, a two-legged qualification play-off for W. Cup 1962, with Spain winning 1-0 away and 3-2 at home.
- Spain have won three of their four W. Cup matches against African opponents (L1), scoring 11 goals and never fewer than two per game.
- Morocco have lost just one of their last four final group stage matches (W2 D1), winning 3-0 against Scotland in 1998, their most recent W. Cup.
- Morocco have already been eliminated from the 2018 W. Cup. They have now been eliminated at the group stage in four of their five W. Cup campaigns, only progressing in the 1986 tournament.
- Morocco have lost four of their last six W. Cup matches against European opposition (W1 D1), losing against Portugal most recently (1-0 in matchday 2).
- Should they lose this match, it will be the second time that Morocco have lost all their W. Cup group matches in a single campaign, having previously done so in 1994.
- Spain have finished top of their group in three of the last four W. Cup tournaments (before 2018), the only exception in this run is in 2014 when they finished third.
- Spain have won their final group game in each of the last eight W. Cup tournaments, a run stretching back to 1986.
- Morocco have fired in more shots than their opposition in each of their last six W. Cup defeats (vs. Portugal and Iran in 2018, Brazil in 1998, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Belgium in 1994).
- Diego Costa has scored nine goals in his last nine international starts for Spain.
Spain Squad
David De Gea (Manchester United), Pepe Reina (Napoli), Kepa Arrizabalaga (Athletic Bilbao), Jordi Alba (Barcelona), Nacho Monreal (Arsenal), Alvaro Odriozola (Real Sociedad), Nacho Fernandez (Real Madrid), Dani Carvajal (Real Madrid), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Cesar Azpilicueta (Chelsea), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Isco (Real Madrid), Thiago Alcantara (Bayern Munich), David Silva (Manchester City), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Saul Niguez (Atletico Madrid), Koke (Atletico Madrid), Marco Asensio (Real Madrid), Iago Aspas (Celta Vigo), Diego Costa (Atletico Madrid), Rodrigo Moreno (Valencia), Lucas Vasquez (Real Madrid)
Morocco Squad
Mounir El Kajoui (Numancia), Yassine Bounou (Girona), Ahmad Reda Tagnaouti (Ittihad Tanger), Mehdi Benatia (Juventus), Romain Saiss (Wolves), Manuel Da Costa (Basaksehir), Badr Benoun (Raja Casablanca), Nabil Dirar (Fenerbahce), Achraf Hakimi (Real Madrid), Hamza Mendyl (LOSC), Mbark Boussoufa (Al Jazira), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord), Youssef Ait Bennasser (Caen), Sofyan Amrabat (Feyenoord), Younes Belhanda (Galatasaray), Faycal Fajr (Getafe), Amine Harit (Schalke), Khalid Boutaib (Malatyaspor), Aziz Bouhaddouz (Saint Pauli), Ayoub El Kaabi (Renaissance Berkane), Nordin Amrabat (Leganes), Medi Carcela (Standard Liege), Hakim Ziyech (Ajax)