Group B - Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Iran

[James]

15 June 2018
18:00 MSK (UTC+3)
Morocco
Iran
Krestovsky Stadium, Saint Petersburg


15 June 2018
21:00 MSK (UTC+3)
Portugal
Spain
Fisht Olympic Stadium, Sochi


20 June 2018
15:00 MSK (UTC+3)
Portugal
Morocco
Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow


20 June 2018
21:00 MSK (UTC+3)
Iran
Spain
Kazan Arena, Kazan


25 June 2018
21:00 MSK (UTC+3)
Iran
Portugal
Mordovia Arena, Saransk


25 June 2018
20:00 KALT (UTC+2)
Spain
Morocco
Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad

 

[Victor Ian]

Tough gig for Morocco. I need them to beat Iran and one of Portugal and Spain. A long time ago they killed the King of Spain and took over the area. Need them to do something similar here. Then I need no small thing in Australia doing pretty much the same and a lucky draw in the 16 and perhaps my wife and I can finally get a big fight night where we sit on opposite sides of the lounge room, common ground green, but me in the yellow and her in the red.

 

[fredfertang]

I got Portugal in the office sweep, so will be taking a smidgen of interest in this group

 

[Spikey]

lol spain

 

[OverratedSanity]

Ideal prep

 

[sledger]

This is almost as funny as the time Spurs hired Santini.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Wait they're saying he's sacked now lol

 

[sledger]

lmao yep, confirmed

 

[Spikey]

yeeeeeeeeeeees

 

[vogue]

Tipped Portugal to beat Spain 1-0. ... happy about that tbh.

 

[OverratedSanity]

This is already an outstanding WC

 

[sledger]

"Betrayal", lol

 

[harsh.ag]

Never change Real

 

[Johnners]

real can just **** off.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Could you turn down the Real job?

Fail and you paid up and are made for life anyway and succeed and you are a legend.

 

[Uppercut]

Could you turn down the Real job?

Fail and you paid up and are made for life anyway and succeed and you are a legend.

Apparently their top 5 choices turned it down. It's only impossible for Lopetegui to turn down because he knows he's a fairly crap manager and will never get another shot at it.

I get why he did it, but I get why they fired him too. It's incredibly disrespectful. You can't publicly make it crystal clear to the world that you place Real Madrid above Spain, then continue to manage Spain.

 

[sledger]

Haven't other managers done this in the past though (i.e. making it known at the start of a tournament they will be leaving straight after to take up a new post)?

I swear this is what Santini did with France/Spurs at Euro 2004, but not able to look it up atm.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Well Robson did it in 1990 a few weeks before the tournament and announced he was going to PSV.

 

[harsh.ag]

What I like is Real knew there would be a backlash from the egomaniac Rubiales but went ahead and did it anyway. And then their players wonder why people don't give them the benefit of the doubt when they injure the opposition's best player in the CL final.

 

[Uppercut]

Haven't other managers done this in the past though (i.e. making it known at the start of a tournament they will be leaving straight after to take up a new post)?

I swear this is what Santini did with France/Spurs at Euro 2004, but not able to look it up atm.

It's not really the usual situation though. Normally what happens is that the national FAs don't want to renew their manager's contract until after the tournament in case they bomb. The managers want certainty about their future employment and might not appreciate the lack of confidence shown in them, so they agree to take up jobs elsewhere when their contracts expire.

Spain signed Lopetegui to a new long-term contract a month ago, which was quite a strong statement for the FA to make about their commitment to him. They were never contacted about RM's approach and only found out he was leaving five minutes before it was made public, which was three days before the tournament began. You can totally see why they're pissed off.