2018 World Cup: Historic Ronaldo headlines winners, losers

Two teams have booked their spots in the round of 16 at the World Cup, as Uruguay defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 to secure entry into the knockout stage from Group A along with Russia.

Iran nearly pulled off one the biggest upsets in World Cup history, but Diego Costa ensured the Spanish walked out as 1-0 victors.

Elsewhere, Cristiano Ronaldo’s header lifted Portugal to a 1-0 victory over Morocco, who was the first side eliminated from the World Cup on Day 7.

Here are three winners and three losers from Wednesday’s matches.

WINNERS

Cristiano Ronaldo
Through his first three World Cups from 2006 to 2014, Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals on 70 shots.

At this tournament, Ronaldo has already bagged four goals on 10 shots. He is leading the Golden Boot race and is the top-scoring European international of all-time with 85 goals, surpassing the great Ferenc Puskas (84).

Portugal’s last five goals have been scored by Ronaldo, and at 33 years old his scoring output for the Selecao is better than ever.

There is a sense that, eventually, Ronaldo will experience a decline. While he may not have the explosive pace from a few years ago, his movement on the goal against Morocco perfectly exemplifies his intelligence. The ability to create the separation, time his leap and head the ball into the net is unmatched by many in the world.

Iran’s “bus”
Without an ounce of patronization, Iran might have produced the best “parking the bus” performance in recent memory.

Even after Ramin Rezaeian’s unfortunate deflected clearance off Diego Costa for the lone goal, Iran responded emphatically. Mehdi Taremi narrowly missed two chances and Saeid Ezatolahi even had a goal called back for offside.

But the first half was a remarkable showing of discipline and positional awareness. The Iranians lined up with five defenders across the box with three midfielders in front to crowd the half spaces. It worked.

Even when a Spanish player entered the penalty area, he was surrounded by three or four defenders at once. There was no way through, and when there was, goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand was alert.

Even with this defeat, Team Melli is still in contention for the round of 16. Iran faces Portugal on the final day, and a win would secure its first-ever spot in the World Cup knockout stage.

Uruguay defence
Uruguay kept a clean sheet for a second straight match in its win over Saudi Arabia. The Uruguayan back line held the Saudis to just eight shots with two hitting the target, wrapping up another solid performance.

Once again, the centre-back duo of Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez led the way. Saudi Arabia only managed 12 touches in the box, mainly due to Godin and Gimenez cutting off shooting lanes for the opposing forwards.

When the Saudis managed to hit a shot on target, goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was able to parry it over the bar or comfortably catch it.

Godin and Gimenez are part of arguably the best defence in the European club game at Atletico Madrid. They habitually accumulate clean sheets. That will be crucial in the knockout stage when matches can be more conservative and chances are at a premium.

LOSERS

Lucas Vazquez
Spain coach Fernando Hierro made two changes from the 3-3 draw with Portugal. Lucas Vazquez was one of them, replacing Koke and moving to the wing.

While every attacker made some form of impact, Vazquez was rather dull.

Vazquez was likely in the side to stretch the pitch and drag Iranian defenders out of position. That was nowhere to be seen.

The 26-year-old would be more suited as an impact substitute in a more open match. Marco Asensio, if anybody, should be prioritized over his Real Madrid teammate.

Morocco’s striker depth
Anyone who watched Portugal’s 1-0 win over Morocco noticed the gulf in attacking impetus between the two sides. The Moroccans led most offensive categories including shots (15-10), possession (53 per cent), passes (468-395), attacking-third passes (171-81) and chances created (10-6).

What Morocco lacked was a clinical finisher or a reference point up front, which is backed up by expected goals.

Centre-back Medhi Benatia was tied with Hakim Ziyech for the team lead in shots (4). Striker Khalid Boutaib had one attempt and four touches in the box. That is clearly not ideal.

Before the World Cup, the Moroccan federation appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to allow Spanish-born forward Munir El Haddadi to represent Morocco. However, the CAS rejected the case because Munir’s 13-minute cameo in a Euro 2016 qualifier exempted him from representing another nation, per FIFA rules.

Munir had 10 goals and six assists in 28 starts as a centre forward for Alaves this past season. The 22-year-old would’ve been perfect as a No. 9 for Herve Renard’s side.

The only consistent finisher in the squad was Ayoub El Kaabi, who debuted with the team in January. It might have benefitted Renard to throw on El Kaabi given all of the opportunities Morocco created.

Fahad Al-Muwallad
Fahad Al-Muwallad is arguably Saudi Arabia’s most gifted attacker. Al-Muwallad was described as “the Saudi Lionel Messi” after making his professional debut at 16 years old. At 18, he debuted for the Saudis and has earned a whopping 45 caps since then.

After coming off the bench versus Russia, Al-Muwallad started in the defeat to Uruguay. Unfortunately for the Saudis, he was largely invisible.

Part of this was down to a lack of service – he only had 16 touches in the game – and most of the passes into the 5-foot-6 Al-Muwallad were in the air. However, he found himself in promising positions in the box and failed to convert.

The 23-year-old’s decision-making in general was too slow at times and it led to five turnovers in the final third. Not great.