Our football match prediction:
Spain
Match Time & Date:
01/07/2018
15:00 GMT
Prediction: 2-0
Russia
Thanks to Iago Aspas’ late goal Spain avoided a shocking loss to Morocco in their last group game at the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals. La Furia Roja, though, made it to the last 16 of the showpiece tournament and they are seen as hot favourites in Monday’s football game against Morocco. Fernando Hierro’s men always produce their best performances in big matches and we predict that they are going to prove their worth in the clash against the tournament hosts. Russia experienced all sorts of problems at the back in a 3-0 loss to Uruguay and seeing that the likes of Dzagoev (injury) and Smolnikov (suspension) miss the Spain game, we are tempted to put our money on La Furia Roja. When the two teams met at Euro 2008 Spain recorded a routine 3-0 win over Russia and there is every chance the history is going to repeat itself.
Highlighted Player (Pique):
Gerard Pique is a Spanish footballer who was born in Barcelona on 2 February, 1987. He is married to famous Colombian singer Shakira and they have two sons Milan and Sasha. Pique is a product of La Masia, the Barca’s youth academy, but he started his senior career at Manchester United. He returned to his boyhood club in 2008 and he has been playing for the Catalan giants ever since. The 193-cm-tall footballer is a centre back who is good in the air. His main position is centre back, but he is capable of playing a defensive midfielder if needed. Pique won his sixth La Liga trophy with Barca in the 2015/2016 season and in 2008 he has three Champions League titles with the Catalan giants as well. During his spell with Manchester United, Gerard Pique won the Premier League trophy (2007/2008) and he helped the Red Devils win the Champions League trophy the same season. Speaking of his international career, the Barcelona defender won the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Spain, while lifting the European Championship trophy two years later.
Highlighted Team (Russia):
While they won the 1960 European Championship, while losing in the final in 1964, 1972 and 1988 as Soviet Union, Russia have enjoyed little success since starting to compete as an independent country in 1992. Their best result up to date is the third-placed finish at the Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, while the team failed to get past the group stage at the World Cup finals in three attempts. However, with Russian Premier League getting stronger by the day, the national team have started to improve as well, and they now finally seem capable of matching the world’s top sides. The new generation includes high-quality footballers such as Alan Dzagoev, Aleksandr Kokorin, Artyom Dzyuba and Oleg Shatov, while the likes of Igor Akinfeev, Sergei Ignashevich, Roman Shirokov and Yuri Zhirkov are nearing the closing stages of their careers. But, with plenty of exciting talent coming through the ranks, future definitely looks bright for the Russia national team.
