On Saturday, Morocco will play either Portugal or Switzerland in the quarterfinals.
After a thrilling penalty shootout victory over Spain, Morocco has advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals, making history as the first Arab nation to ever do so.
Achraf Hakimi, a Spanish-born superstar wing-back for the Atlas Lions, put an end to Tuesday's last-16 match at the Education City Stadium by scoring the game-winning penalty to make it 3-0 on penalties and excite the throngs of boisterous Moroccan spectators.
Sergio Busquets, Pablo Sarabia, and Carlos Soler all missed penalties for Spain; Sarabia hit the post, and Yassine Bounou stopped the other two attempts from Morocco.
After 120 minutes of regular time and overtime, there was no goals scored between the sides.
On Saturday, Morocco will play either Portugal or Switzerland in the quarterfinals. The Atlas Lions are the only non-European or non-South American team left in the competition.
Jawad El Yamiq rejoices over Morocco's historic victory.
The use of penalties in Spain is insufficient
Spain had high hopes of repeating their World Cup victory from 2010 in Qatar following a good Euro 2020 campaign that saw them get to the semifinals before falling to Italy on penalties.
Prior to Tuesday's match against Morocco, coach Luis Enrique stated that he had told his players to take "at least 1,000 penalties" in the lead-up to the World Cup in order to make sure they were prepared to handle the strain of a penalty shoot-out.
But in the heat of battle, their preparation fell short, as Sarabia, who had been brought in particularly for the shootout, hit the post on Spain's first penalty.
Morocco is the first Arab country to ever reach the World Cup quarter-finals
Spain had high hopes of repeating their World Cup victory from 2010 in Qatar following a good Euro 2020 campaign that saw them get to the semifinals before falling to Italy on penalties.
Prior to Tuesday's match against Morocco, coach Luis Enrique stated that he had told his players to take "at least 1,000 penalties" in the lead-up to the World Cup in order to make sure they were prepared to handle the strain of a penalty shoot-out.
But in the heat of battle, their preparation fell short, as Sarabia, who had been brought in particularly for the shootout, hit the post on Spain's first penalty.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2022/12/6/recap-morocco-vs-spain-world-cup
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