Moving along. Russia 2018, June 20th, a day for the minnows to make a name for themselves against their stronger opponents.
Portugal play Morocco, Uruguay take on Saudi Arabia and Spain will hope for a comfortable win against Iran.
There's just one short story I have today from a past June 20th. In 1982 Spain were not the Spain of today. They hadn't qualified for the two previous World Cups and were under enormous pressure to perform at home and give the Spanish people a reason to celebrate a few years after the end of the Franco dictatorship. Their opening match was an unconvincing 1-1 draw against Honduras. On June 20th they faced Yugoslavia and it was a match tinged with controversy with Spain benefiting from the kind of refereeing decision that looked like it came from a referee feeling the pressure of being in charge of a match involving the host country.
Yugoslavia took the lead after 8 minutes. In the 14th minute, Spain were awarded a penalty for a foul that clearly took place outside the penalty area. The Yugoslavs were incensed. The Spanish penalty taker missed the penalty and the ref decided it needed to be taken again. Spain scored, their opponents were even angrier and went on to concede the winning goal in the second half.
I always mark 1982 as the year my football life started. I remember that World Cup well for Brazil and Peru's white shirts whit the red sash and Platini and Tardelli and so many more happy moments. But I also have a memory deep in my head of that controversial penalty. Nowadays Spain are a team that can be reasonably expected to win the World Cup and will hopefully not need any favours against Iran on June 20th.
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