Morocco are back on the grandest of world stages after a 20-year absence, having last played at the FIFA World Cup in 1998. The Atlas Lions had a stellar qualification campaign, beating Equatorial Guinea 2-1 on aggregate in the second qualification round for CAF, before winning all six games without...
Iran as a national team has long been neglected by the international community despite their past and recent successes. Russia 2018 will be their fifth World Cup appearance, but Team Melli has yet to advance to the knockout rounds in their history. Portuguese head coach Carlos Queiroz has been at the helm...
For the Euro 2016 champions nostalgia will not win them the trophy and Portugal manager Fernando Santos shows no signs of this, dropping Euro 2016 winners Nani (Lazio), Andre Gomes (Barcelona) and Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich) and extra-time winning goal scorer Eder (on loan at Lokomotiv Moscow from Lille). One...
World Cup 2018 will be something of a transition point for the Spanish national team moving forward. The core of the side that won the World Cup in 2010 in South Africa and the European Championship in 2008 and 2012 are still present but this may be the last time...
Squad Saudi Arabia's victory over Greece was the Green Falcons' third in six matches under new manager Juan Antonio Pizzi. The Argentinian is the third Saudi Arabia coach in less than a year, following Bert van Marwijk – who led the Arabians to FIFA World Cup 2018 qualification – and...
Uruguay are one of the true heavyweights of international football with two FIFA World Cup titles in their trophy cabinet. Granted, the last of those came in 1950 but Uruguay still manage to do well from time to time. Most recently their fourth place finish at the 2010 FIFA World...
Qualification for Russia 2018 was anything but straightforward for Egypt. Despite their standing as the most successful African side and their reputation as a football obsessed nation it took a 93rd minute penalty from talisman Mohamed Salah in the penultimate qualifying match to seal their place in Russia. It was...
Russia head into the FIFA World Cup 2018 tournament, with a huge weight of expectation on them, given they are the proud host nation. In this article I hope to give you a guide to the hosts and what to expect from them on home soil. Many eyes will be...
