Teenager Yassin Bounou did not know when he decided to represent his country, Morocco, instead of Canada, that he would make history and lead his country to the quarter-finals of the most important football competitions, but this dream was always in his mind until the decisive moment came to turn it into reality.
“Bono” played the role of the hero following saving two penalties once morest Spain, to contribute to Morocco’s rise to the 8th round of the 2022 World Cup as the first Arab team to reach that stage in the finals of the competition, and he also won the best player award in his team’s match once morest Spain.
Bono was born in the Canadian city of Montreal to Moroccan parents, and returned to his country when he was two years old. His father worked as a civil engineer and a former teacher at the Husseinieh School of Public Works.
At the age of eight, he joined the Wydad Academy in the city of Casablanca, and from here his story with football began.
Bono said regarding his choice to represent the country of his parents, Morocco, to his current club, Seville, on YouTube: Benito Floro (former Canada coach) called me when he was in charge of the technical duties for the Canadian national team. I had not played any international match with Morocco at the time, but I am Moroccan and grew up there. I always dreamed of representing the national team.
Bono left the Wydad Academy to the reserve team of Atletico Madrid in 2012, and went through several other experiences in Spain between Girona and Real Zaragoza clubs until he settled in Seville.
Yassin shone with Seville and crowned his distinguished level with the “Zamora” award last season as the best goalkeeper in the “La Liga” and the first Arab goalkeeper to be crowned with it, following he played 31 games and conceded 24 times and came out with a clean sheet on 13 occasions (0.77 goals per match). Bono is the first goalkeeper in the history of the Andalusian club to visit the net of his competitors.
The beauty of the “Zamora” award lies above all in the fact that Bono has outperformed Belgian stars Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) and Slovenian Jan Oblak (Atletico Madrid), winners of eight of the last nine Zamora awards (five for the Slovenian and three for the Belgian).
The Moroccan also became the second African goalkeeper to win the award, following Cameroonian Jacques Songo in the 1996-1997 season with Deportivo La Coruña.
Coincidence played a role in making Bono’s history with Seville. After the Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vachlik was injured at the beginning of the 2021-2022 season, the Andalusian club’s management decided to permanently buy his contract from Girona.
Bono drew attention following what happened between him and Haaland when the latter was a player in the ranks of Dortmund, during the meeting of the German club and its Spanish counterpart in the 16th round of the Champions League season 2020-2021.
The referee awarded a penalty kick in favor of the yellow and black team, Haaland kicked it, but Bono tackled him and celebrated while screaming, but the referee decided to return it, and then Haaland succeeded in scoring and in turn shouted at Bono.
Haaland said following the match: I don’t know what I said, I said the same word he said to me, but I don’t know what it means.
The match footage showed that Bono said to the current Manchester City striker the word “Cricocho” before executing the kick, a word that began to be used in Argentina in the eighties of the last century with coach Carlos Bilardo assuming the technical task of the Estudiantes team.
“Kirikucho” was a popular fan of the team, but he was known to have bad luck, as the team loses the matches he attends, and even when he appears in training, his players are plagued by injuries.
Bilardo wanted to meet him and everyone expected him to order him to stop attending the team’s matches with the poor results, but he asked him to welcome his competitors when they arrived to meet Estudiantes. What Bilardo wanted happened and the team’s results improved and he was crowned with the league title, and with Bilardo moving to coach Seville in 1992, the word “Cricocho” moved with him. Famous for bringing bad luck to competitors.
Spain’s left-back Juan Capdivia revealed that he used it when Robin was alone with Casillas in the 2010 World Cup final, and Giorgio Chiellini used it before Saka’s decisive penalty shootout in the Euro 2020 final.
It is interesting that Bono is associated with the famous Spanish series “House of Paper” due to the great similarity between him and the Spanish actor Miguel Herran, who has the character “Rio” in the series.
