Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou takes a bow.
For 120 minutes of pressure, Bounou held firm in the face of a constant attack from Spain. And then, when the game went to penalties, he still refused to give up even once.
That’s right, Spain missed all three penalties in a disastrous shootout as Morocco advanced to the World Cup quarter-finals.
They will face the winner of a 6am (AEDT) clash between Portugal and Switzerland.
5 am — Spain collapses in the penalty shootout
Achraf Hakimi scored the decisive penalty to knock Spain and Morocco out of the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time, winning 3-0 on penalties after a 0-0 draw.
Spain manager Luis Enrique had claimed his players prepared with 1,000 penalties as homework, but Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets all missed from the spot and Madrid’s Hakimi sunk his home to the delight of the support snot from Morocco.
Walid Regragui’s side will face either Portugal or Switzerland in unfamiliar territory for them, with their previous best record a last-16 exit in 1986.
Spain were hoping to repeat their 2010 World Cup triumph after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2020, where they were also beaten on penalties by Italy.
The teams were very evenly matched through a nail-biting clash, with Spain having more of the ball, but Morocco creating the better openings, albeit few.
After 120 minutes, Spain and Morocco could not be separated and it went to penalties, where Spain were even less effective than Japan against Croatia.
Morocco fired first. The team that finished second had won the last seven World Cup shutouts.
Here’s the shootout played out:
Morocco (Sabiri) — Pointed Spain (Sarabia) — Touch the message and it fails 1-0
Morocco (Ziyech) — Pointed Spain (Soler) — Saved Disaster for Spain 2-0
Morocco (Benoun) — Saved Life for Spain Spain (Busquets) — Saved What is happening? 2-0
Morocco (Judge) — Pointed Morocco wins 3-0
Luis Enrique tried his third right-back of the tournament in Marcos Llorente and benched the team’s top goalscorer Alvaro Morata for Marco Asensio after Japan’s crushing defeat.
Spain monopolized the ball, with the Moroccan fans booing furiously with their team out of possession.
Morocco, who are the last African and Arab side standing at the first World Cup held in an Arab country, were heavily supported and their supporters greatly outnumbered the Spanish.
With La Roja playing in a pale blue second strip, they looked like the visiting team in hostile territory.
Gavi, who at 18 years and 123 days became the youngest player to start a World Cup knockout match since Brazilian great Pelé in 1958, rose to the occasion.
The terrier of the Barcelona midfielder was at his most intense, crashing into challenges left, right and centre, even leaping to head one in.
Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou tipped a Gavi goal onto the crossbar, although it would have been ruled offside, while Asensio drilled into the net, although Spain created little.
Regragui’s side sat deep in defense and threatened on the counter, with Unai Simon turning away Noussair Mazraoui’s long-range shot.
Sofiane Boufal, who got past Llorente like sand slipping through the Spaniard’s fingers early on, created the best chance of the half for Nayef Aguerd, who headed home from just inches.
Bounou denied Dani Olmo’s strike from an angle as tension rose after the break.
Luis Enrique was fuming at Rodri for picking the wrong option on the ball, withdrawing the stubborn and muddy Gavi for Carlos Soler.
He also released Morata, giving Spain a focal point up top, but they struggled to supply it as Morocco sat deeper and deeper.
Another substitute, Nico Williams, found the Atletico Madrid striker on one occasion, but the angle was too tight and he scraped a shot wide of the goal.
Bounou made a good save from Olmo’s free-kick, which almost crept all the way, and Spain finally created stronger chances as the game wore down in the moments before extra-time.
Morocco responded in extra time by finding stability and testing Simon, who made a fine save with his legs to deny Walid Cheddira after he had broken down Spain’s left flank.
Despite heavy pressure from Spain in the final moments before penalties, the Sevilla keeper was untroubled again, with Pablo Sarabia clipping the outside of the post, even though he could have been offside.
Having seemingly been sent off for the shootout, Sarabia hit the post again from Spain’s first penalty, after Abdelhamid Sabiri had put Morocco ahead.
Soler and Busquets both missed, while Hakim Ziyech scored, before Hakimi scored against his native country to spark wild celebrations.
03:00 – Calls for Ronaldo to be axed
Portugal coach Fernando Santos said he was unimpressed by Ronaldo’s behavior after the forward reacted angrily when he was substituted during the team’s final group game at the World Cup in Qatar.
Ronaldo initially said he was “insulted” by a South Korean player when he was substituted in the second half of his side’s 2-1 defeat by the Asian side on Friday.
But Portuguese media have shown footage suggesting he used foul language in response to Santos’ decision.
Asked how he had reacted to these images, Santos said in a press conference: “I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t like it at all.”
But he said a line had been drawn under the incident.
“Then those matters are resolved, resolved internally,” he said.
“They are finished. It’s the end of the story on this matter and now we’re thinking about tomorrow’s game and everyone is fully focused on the preparations for the game.”
Ronaldo’s starting role in the team remains a hot topic among Portuguese fans, with a poll in local newspaper A Bola finding that 70 percent of Portuguese do not want him in the starting eleven.
But Santos said he wasn’t paying attention to the debate or online polls on the issue.
“I don’t read that kind of stuff,” he said.
“It’s no disrespect, it’s just that we have three days to train for a game and I’m not watching any other kind of news. We focus on the next game.”
Santos said he expected a tight game against Switzerland.
Portugal beat the Swiss 4-0 in the UEFA Nations League in June before losing 1-0 in the reverse fixture.
– with the AFP