Goalless after 45 minutes, goalless after 90, goalless after 105, goalless after 120: The World Cup Round of 16 between Morocco and Spain is by no means an offensive festival. The decision is only made after a penalty shoot-out.
Buoyed by 20,000 fanatical supporters, Morocco stalled Spain’s passing machine to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a 3-0 win in a penalty-kick thriller. The ‘Lions of Atlas’ continued their fabulous winning streak in Qatar after 120 goalless minutes against the favored 2010 world champions with nerves of steel, making them the fourth African side to finish in the last eight after Cameroon, Senegal and most recently Ghana. Opponent is Portugal or Switzerland on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Bono – who works for Sevilla FC in Spain – became the hero with three saved penalties for Morocco. He saved the attempts of Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets after Pablo Sarabia hit the post and turned the arena into a madhouse.
In front of their outstanding goalkeeper, the strong Moroccans had built up an impenetrable defensive wall with Noussair Mazrouni from FC Bayern for 120 minutes beforehand, they showed themselves tactically disciplined, ran their lungs out – and they also got into Ar-Rayyan’s Education City Stadium home game. The already deafening noise increased to a hurricane when victory was assured.
Up until the penalty shoot-out, the Moroccans had successfully resisted the almost continuous Spanish siege with passion and despite their weakening strength. After 90 minutes, the “Furia Roja” had already played 768 passes, 94 percent of which had arrived – but the return was sparse. The longer the game lasted, the less relief the Moroccans managed, but once, in the 104th minute, Walid Cheddira could have made the decision.
Morocco had only been in a round of 16 for the second time: in 1986 there was a 0-1 draw against the German Football Association (DFB) team when Lothar Matthäus converted a direct free kick in the 87th minute. For Spain, after winning the title in 2010 and failing in the group stage in 2014, it was already their second defeat in a row in the first knockout round: in 2018 they ended on penalties against Russia.
The 2-1 draw against Japan in the last group game was treated by Spain as an annoying industrial accident. Yes, of course Germany were eliminated as a result, but it was “not that bad at all,” said striker Alvaro Morata: “Fortunately, the mistake happened when there was still a chance. If it had happened one round later, we would have had four years cried for a long time.” Seen in this light, Spain is crying now.
In any case, Morocco was ready to happily stick little sticks into the cogs of the Spanish passport machine. “Why not aim for heaven? Why not dream of lifting this trophy?” asked coach Walid Regragui before the game. And yes: why not Morocco? Everything seems possible for the team around their superstar Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea.