FIFA World Cup: Morocco dump Spain out of the World Cup
A Panenka penalty from Achraf Hakimi decided the shootout in Morocco's favour as they knocked out Spain to reach the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.
With an incredible low defensive block, Morocco put it all on penalties against SpainAfter Spain failed to score on any of its three penalties, Hakimi displayed no fear by scoring with a panenka. Yassine Bounou saved the day for Morocco by denying Pablo Sarabia, Sergio Busquets, and Carlos Soler.
After beating Belgium in the group stage, Morocco thus took another big scalp.
Spain did have a late chance Sarabia, who hit the far post in the third of three minutes of 120 minutes of stoppage time, but Walid Regragui's Moroccan side were worthy winners and moved into the quarter-finals.
Morocco occasionally created danger by playing out of defence - including midway through the first half when Bono's free-kick was quickly returned. Still, Ferran Torres was offside when he played the ball back to Dani Olmo, whose shot the keeper just managed to direct against the crossbar.
The North Africans defended resolutely and only allowed Spain one attempt on goal in the opening 45 minutes of a World Cup game—the fewest ever.
Spain's only chance before half-time was a Marco Asensio shot into the side netting.
Noussair Mazraoui snatched the ball away from Torres and shot from 30 yards, but Unai Simon was able to parry the shot.
Then a cross from Sofiane Boufal found the head of Nayef Aguerd, but he could not hold his header at the far post. Moments later, Aymeric Laporte had to clear a back pass from Ziyech that found Youssef En Nesyri in front of the goal.
Spain needed 10 minutes of the second half to test Bono for the first time. The Moroccan goalkeeper could keep out Olmo's shot from an acute angle from the left after Gavi had blocked a Hakimi free kick.
The game became increasingly nervous as Morocco kept pressuring Spain but failed to create their own chances.
Luis Enrique sent Alvaro Morata and Soler on in place of Gavi and Asensio. At the same time, Morocco was beset by injuries - Abde Ezzalzouli replaced a limping Boufal, and Aguerd also had to sit out and was replaced by Jawad el Yamiq shortly after Morocco made a triple substitution.
A second half in which hardly anything happened came alive in stoppage time. Walid Cheddira tried a turn after being set up by Hakimi, and Simon narrowly got away with a poor first touch under pressure from Ezzalzouli.
A free kick from Soler found Morata at the far post, but he headed high and wide.
Seconds from the end, Olmo fired a free kick out of the thick of things, but Bono managed to keep the ball out.
The first team to pose a threat in the extra 30 minutes was Morocco, but Laporte was able to clear the ball because Cheddira took too long to shoot after sprinting through and probably being offside.
In the 104th minute, Cheddira got a shot off after Rodri could not get the ball out of the danger zone, but Simon held the ball on the follow-up shot.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">THE HERO 👑🇲🇦 <a href="https://t.co/WCaCZEmHqh">pic.twitter.com/WCaCZEmHqh</a></p>— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) <a href="https://twitter.com/FIFAWorldCup/status/1600188088784822272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 6, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The game became increasingly drawn out as players struggled with cramps, and neither team could prevent a penalty shootout when Sarabia's shot from an acute angle grazed the post and rebounded.