Morocco’s success story at the 2022 World Cup continues after a penalty shootout victory over Spain to carry the hopes of Arab and African nations.
— Morocco stunned Spain to reach the World Cup quarterfinals with right-back Achraf Hakimi scoring the decisive spot kick in a penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw at Education City.
Paris Saint-Germain defender Hakimi scored with a Panenka penalty after Spain missed three spot-kicks and exited with a 3-0 shootout defeat. And Morocco made history by reaching their first quarterfinal and also becoming the first Arab nation to progress to that stage of the tournament.
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Morocco will play a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time after eliminating 2010 world champions Spain at Education City. And the so-called Atlas Lions are now one step from making history as the first African nation to reach the semifinals by beating either Portugal or Switzerland in Saturday’s last-eight tie.
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Coach Walid Regragui’s team went into this game having conceded just one goal — an own goal — in the tournament and their defensive organisation was crucial in overcoming Luis Enrique’s team. Morocco rarely looked troubled by Spain, but their inability to score themselves during normal time and extra time meant that the game went to penalties.
And that’s where goalkeeper Yassine Bounou emerged as a national star by saving penalties from Sergio Busquets and Carlos Soler, as well as seeing Pablo Sarabia hit a post, as Spain suffered the ignominy of losing a penalty shootout without scoring a single one of their spot kicks. The defeat means Spain have now lost four of their five World Cup penalty shootouts.
For Morocco, though, the chance to go even further in this World Cup has now opened up. Whoever they face in the next round, they will not be overshadowed by their opponents and could yet progress all the way to a semifinal against either England or France. In the first World Cup to be staged in an Arab nation, Morocco’s progress ensures that the whole region still has a team to throw its support behind.
Spain have been an anomaly at Qatar 2022. Only England (12) have scored more goals than Spain, who went into the Morocco game having netted 10 times in the group stage, but despite their numbers, Luis Enrique’s team have virtually no goal threat against well-organised opponents.
The 7-0 win against Costa Rica in their opening game has skewed the picture with the 2010 World Cup winners because they tried everything against Morocco and never looked like scoring. Enrique started with Marco Asensio ahead of Alvaro Morata, but the Real Madrid forward offered little threat and was only able to hit the side netting with his one clear chance in the first half.
But Morata, when he came on just after the hour mark, was little better.
