Morocco made football history in Qatar. The “Lions of Atlas” beat Portugal 1-0 (1-0) in the World Cup quarter-finals and were the first African team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup.
Youssef En-Nesyri from Spanish club FC Sevilla scored the decisive goal (42nd) for Morocco on Saturday evening (10.12.22) in Doha. Coach Walid Regragui’s team achieved the next sensation at the desert tournament. Morocco had surprisingly left Croatia and Belgium behind in the group stage and then defeated another football heavyweight in Spain in the round of 16.
“We made history for Africa. Africa is on the map of football. We used our capital, we were a team, we had the mentality,” said Regragui.
The winner of the duel England – France is now waiting for the Africans next Wednesday (14.12.22, 20:00 CET) in the semifinals.
Ronaldo on the bench again
Ronaldo or Gomes? Superstar or shooting star? This was the question that moved Portuguese football fans before the duel with the “Lions of Atlas”. After coach Fernando Santos surprisingly put his captain and exceptional striker Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench in the round of 16 against Switzerland (6-1) and replaced him with Gonçalo Ramos, who was 16 years his junior, it was speculated whether “CR7” would meet the same fate against Morocco . The answer was yes.
The 37-year-old again had to give way to Gomes, who had scored three goals against the Swiss. Ronaldo’s reaction to his repeated demotion? He tried to smile away his frustration.
Joao Felix misses an early 1-0 for Portugal
There, the currently clubless top scorer witnessed a very intense duel from both sides right from the start, in which Morocco was frenetically cheered on by the majority of ticket buyers for every action, no matter how trivial. When Portugal had the ball – and that was the case much more often at first – there was a shrill concert of whistles. However, the Iberians were fairly unimpressed by the background noise.
The Santos team acted very concentrated in the early stages and had the first big chance to take the lead through Joao Felix in the fifth minute. The attacking man headed a free-kick from Bruno Fernandes but was denied by keeper Yassine Bounou.
Morocco defends excellently again
After that, the Moroccan goalkeeper, who goes by the nickname Bono and became a national hero in the round of 16 penalty shoot-out against Spain, did not have to intervene seriously again. The Africans, who were already excellently organized defensively throughout the tournament, made the space tight and kept the Portuguese, who often operated with long balls, away from their own goal.
There was an exception in the 31st minute, when Felix’s poorly-defended header fell in front of his feet and his deflected shot landed on the goal net. Bono had already made his way to the other corner and would not have had a chance to defend himself.
Keeper Costa blunders – En-Nesyri scores for Portugal
Morocco lurked for moments of change and initiated some appealing countermoves after winning the ball, which, however, were inadequate in the finalization until shortly before the break. Then Yahia Attiyat Allah crossed from half field to En-Nesyri, who jumped higher than keeper Diogo Costa and headed in to make it 1-0 for the underdogs.
Youssef En-Nesyri put Morocco ahead just before the break.
Portugal tried to make up for their keeper’s mistake, but were unlucky when an unlucky Fernandes cross hit the crossbar (45′).
Ronaldo came on shortly after the break
And what did Ronaldo representative Gomes actually do in the first section? Well, on a benevolent note, the young striker had tried very hard. Despite no action worth mentioning before the break, the 21-year-old was allowed to stay on the pitch. There he was supported from the 51st minute by Ronaldo, who came on for Ruben Neves. At that point, Portugal could already have been 2-0 down. 120 seconds earlier, Jawad El Yamiq had failed at Costa.
Morocco captain Saiss has to leave injured
Shortly after Ronaldo came on, Morocco’s captain and defense chief Romain Saiss was injured and carried off the field on a stretcher (57′). Achraf Dari, who was still looking for direction, came on for the 32-year-old when a cross flew into Morocco’s penalty area and he should have been watching Gomes. However, he was unsuccessful and the Portuguese attacker got a free-standing header, but missed the goal (58′).
Bono records Morocco’s victory
The Europeans were now pinning Morocco in their own half but kept getting bogged down in the multi-legged defense of the Africans. As the game progressed, the impression grew that Portugal could only equalize through a set piece goal or a lucky strike. Especially since Ronaldo, who is actually known for his brilliant moments, could hardly set any impulses.
The same was not true of his teammate Felix. He tried everything, but found his champion again in Bono (83′) with a hard left-footed shot. The goalkeeper from FC Sevilla then prevented the equalizer against Ronaldo in injury time, but his attempt was not well placed (90+1).
Morocco had to survive the last minutes of stoppage time after a yellow-red card against Walid Cheddira (90+3) outnumbered. They finally made it because Pepe missed the 1-1 with a header shortly before the end of the game (90+7).