Group B of the 2018 FIFA World Cup took place from 15 to 25 June 2018. The group consisted of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria t ...

, and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. 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 each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

: *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 vehicles intended for competition, usually in touring car racing and rallying. In contrast to the short-lived Group B and Group C, Group A vehicles ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. *The runners-up of Group B,

, advanced to play the winners of

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

Matches

All times listed are

local time Local time is the time observed in a specific locality. There is no canonical definition. Originally it was mean solar time, but since the introduction of time zones it is generally the time as determined by the time zone in effect, with daylight s ...

Morocco vs Iran

2018 FIFA World Cup Group B march IRN-MAR 25

The two teams had never met before.

Amine Harit Amine Harit ( ar, أمين حاريث; born 18 June 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Ligue 1 club Marseille. Born in France, with Moroccan parents, he plays for the Morocco national team. Club career Nantes H ...

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 account Karim Ansarifard Karim Adil Ansarifard ( fa, کریم انصاری‌فرد; born 3 April 1990) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Omonia and the Iran national team. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Ali Dae ...

to scuff his shot when clean through on goal.

Sardar Azmoun Sardar Azmoun ( fa, سردار آزمون (Sardâr Âzmôn); born 1 January 1995) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen and the Iran national team. Azmoun made his debut for the Ira ...

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

Munir Mohamedi Munir Mohand Mohamedi El Kajoui ( ar, منير مهند محمدي الكجوي; born 10 May 1989), known simply as Munir, is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Saudi Professional League club Al Wehda FC and the Morocco nat ...

saved low with his feet. In the final 10 minutes

Hakim Ziyech Hakim Ziyech ( ar, حكيم زياش; ber, ⵃⴰⴽⵉⵎ ⵣⵉⵢⴰⵛ; born 19 March 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Chelsea. Born in the Netherlands, he represent ...

lashed the ball towards the bottom-left corner of the net from 20 yards but

Alireza Beiranvand Alireza Safar Beiranvand ( fa, علیرضا صفربیرانوند; born 21 September 1992) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Persian Gulf Pro League club Persepolis and the Iran national team. Beiranvand r ...

stopped the ball. In the last minutes,

Ehsan Hajsafi Ehsan Hajsafi ( fa, احسان حاج‌صفی; born 25 February 1990) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Greek Super League club AEK Athens and captains the Iran national team. Hajsafi is regarded as a utility ...

'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 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 , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

1–1 in 2006 and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

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 , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, 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 footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

scored with an early penalty, winning it after he was fouled by

Nacho Nachos are a Mexican culinary dish consisting of fried tortilla chips or ''totopos'' covered with melted cheese or cheese sauce, as well as a variety of other toppings and garnishes, often including meats (such as ground beef or grilled chicken ...

inside the box.

Diego Costa Diego da Silva Costa (, ; born 7 October 1988), commonly known as Diego Costa, is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Spain national team. Costa began his football care ...

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 Manchester United. During the mid-2010s, he was widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Born in Madrid ...

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 one of the best defenders of his generation. Initially a highly promising student at La Masia, Piqué ...

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, 2010,

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

) after Pelé,

Uwe Seeler Uwe Seeler (; 5 November 1936 – 21 July 2022) was a German footballer and football official. As a striker, he was a prolific scorer for Hamburger SV and also made 72 appearances for the West Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of ...

and

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, pl, Mirosław Józef Klose; born 9 June 1978 as Mirosław Marian Klose) is a German professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Austrian Bundesliga club Rheindorf Altach. A striker, Klose ...

, and also the first to score in eight consecutive World Cups and European Championships. At age 33, Ronaldo also became the oldest hat-trick scorer in the World Cup, surpassing

Rob Rensenbrink Rob Rensenbrink (; 3 July 1947 – 24 January 2020) was a Dutch footballer and member of the Netherlands national team that reached two World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978. A creative and prolific left winger or forward, he became a legend in B ...

of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, who scored three times against Iran in 1978, 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, won by Morocco 3–1.

João Moutinho João Filipe Iria Santos Moutinho (; born 8 September 1986) is a Portuguese footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Portugal national team. Moutinho began his professional career ...

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 footballer who plays as a winger for Primeira Liga club Benfica, on loan from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, and the Portugal national team. ...

into the box but Munir made a one-handed save. Ronaldo shot over the crossbar when

Bernardo Silva Bernardo Mota Veiga de Carvalho e Silva (; born 10 August 1994), known as Bernardo Silva or simply Bernardo, is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder, forward or a winger for club Manchester City and the ...

'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 Serie A team Roma and the Portugal national team. He is often nicknamed "São Patrício" (''Saint Patrício'') for ...

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 Noureddine "Nordin" Amrabat ( ar, نورالدين أمرابط, ber, ⵏⵓⵓⵔⴷⴷⵉⵏ ⴰⵎⵔⴰⴱⴰⵜ; born 31 March 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Greek Super League club AEK Athens. Amrabat played ...

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 third team to be eliminated from the 2018 FIFA World Cup. 85 international goals for Ronaldo is a new record for a European player, with Ronaldo passing Ferenc Puskás to hold the record outright. Ronaldo has become the first Portuguese player since

José Torres José ("Chegüi") Torres (May 3, 1936 – January 19, 2009) was a Puerto Rican-born American professional boxer. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight division at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1965, he d ...

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 (russian: Олег Анатольевич Саленко, uk, Олег Анатолійович Саленко; born 25 October 1969) is a Russian-Ukrainian former footballer who played as a forward. He scored a recor ...

for Russia in 1994.

Iran vs Spain

Iran and Spain match at the FIFA World Cup (5)

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 professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Real Sociedad. Silva plays mainly as a central or an attacking midfielder but can also play as a winger or second striker. He is ...

's long-range free-kick was held by

. 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 La Liga club Barcelona, where he is captain. He is considered to be a deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay ...

' curled effort from the edge of the penalty area.

Karim Ansarifard Karim Adil Ansarifard ( fa, کریم انصاری‌فرد; born 3 April 1990) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Omonia and the Iran national team. His playing style and ability have drawn comparisons to Ali Dae ...

'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 professional footballer who plays as a midfielder and is the captain of J1 League club Vissel Kobe. Considered one of the greatest midfielders of all time, Iniesta has spent most of hi ...

's pass inside the area and saw

Ramin Rezaeian Ramin Rezaeian Semeskandi ( fa, رامین رضائیان سمسکندی; born 21 March 1990) is an Iranian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Persian Gulf Pro League club S ...

'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 Mehdi Taremi ( fa, مهدی طارمی; born 18 July 1992) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Primeira Liga club Porto and the Iran national team. A late bloomer, he begun his career at Shahin Bushehr and Iran ...

'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, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

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

Ricardo Quaresma Ricardo Andrade Quaresma Bernardo (; born 26 September 1983) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a winger. He began his career at Sporting CP and went on to play for Barcelona, Inter Milan, Porto (twice), Chelsea, Beşiktaş ...

cut in from the right before scoring with a curling shot off the outside of his right foot that looped over

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

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 (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 seventh 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 be ...

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

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

. Iniesta and

combined to set up

Isco Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez (; born 21 April 1992), commonly known as Isco (), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. He last played for La Liga club Sevilla. He began his career at Valencia, playing ...

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.

, 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 Youssef En-Nesyri ( ar, يوسف النصيري; pronounced ; born 1 June 1997) is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Sevilla and the Morocco national team. En-Nesyri has spent his entire senior football ...

scored home a header to give Morocco the lead. And when Iago Aspas turned home

Dani Carvajal Daniel "Dani" Carvajal Ramos (; born 11 January 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right back for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Spain national team. Having risen through the Real Madrid youth ranks, he spent a sea ...

'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 Salaheddine Bassir ( ar, صلاح الدين بصير; born 5 September 1972) is a Moroccan former professional footballer who played as a striker. He played for a few clubs, including Raja Casablanca, Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia) and Deportivo La ...

scored in a 3–0 win over Scotland. Ramos made his 16th appearance for Spain at the World Cup, overtaking Xavi 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