History! Morocco qualified for the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history on Tuesday following a disastrous penalty shootout for Spain. Heroic, the Atlas Lions resisted for 120 minutes once morest a suffocating Spanish domination (77% possession of the ball).
Virtually impervious since the start of the tournament (1 goal conceded), the Moroccans conceded only one shot on target to their opponent, thus confirming their exceptional defensive rigor. Carried by a Sofyan Amrabat great days, just as effective defensively as offensively, and by the swaying dribbles of Sofiane Boufalthe Atlas Lions managed to create several opportunities once morest. Walid Cheddira thus wasted the goal of the heist in the 95th minute while the biggest Spanish opportunity fell in the 123rd minute of play with a strike from Pablo Sarabia on the pole.
Unable to score, the two teams had to decide on penalties. An exercise in which Lions of the Atlas proved to be much more skilful than their adversaries. True hero of an entire country, the guardian Yassine Bounou neutralized two of the three Spanish penalties (Sarabia hit the post) and allowed his side to win 3-0 in this session concluded by the ‘Doll‘ d’Achrafi Hakimi.
Morocco – which had a 1/8th final in 1986 as their best result – becomes the 4th African country to qualify for the quarter-finals of a World Cup following Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.
Spain meanwhile suffered another early elimination from the World Cup following taking the door in the group stage in 2014 and having suffered a penalty shoot-out in the round of 16 once morest Croatia in 2018.
In the next round, Morocco will face the winner of the duel between Portugal and Switzerland.
