The Lions – or were they zebras? – from Atlas are in the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time. This Tuesday (6), Morocco’s national team was responsible for the biggest surprise of the round of 16 of the World Cup in Qatar, when they eliminated favorite Spain on penalties, by 3-0, after a goalless draw in normal time, at Estádio Cidade of Education in Doha. Absolute scenes. 😳Morocco are into the World Cup Quarter-Finals! 🇲🇦 #FIFAWorldCup | @adidasfootball — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 6, 2022 Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was the hero of the historic standings, saving two penalties. Ironically, shirt 1 defends a Spanish team, Sevilla. Interestingly, two of the 26 players in the Moroccan squad are natives of Spain, but chose to defend the African country, which was a Spanish protectorate between 1912 and 1956. One of them is full-back Achraf Hakimi, born in Madrid, who took the decisive penalty. The other is reserve goalkeeper Munir El-Kajoui, born in Melilla, a city in Morocco, close to the Strait of Gibraltar, but which belongs to the Iberian nation and even has a wall erected in the border region. The classification guarantees the best Moroccan result in a World Cup, surpassing 1986 (Mexico), when the team stopped in West Germany, in the round of 16. As a bonus, the North African team equaled the continent’s most positive performance in a World Cup, repeating Cameroon (1990, in Italy), Senegal (2002, in Japan and South Korea) and Ghana (2010, in South Africa) . To be the first African country in a World Cup semifinal, Morocco will have to overcome the winner of the confrontation between Switzerland and Portugal, who face each other this Tuesday, starting at 4 pm (Brasília time), at the Lusail Stadium. The duel for the quarterfinals will take place next Saturday (10th), starting at 12h, at Al Thumama Stadium, in Doha. 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐌𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒 😳Morocco reach the Quarter-Finals for the first time. 🇲🇦 #FIFAWorldCup | #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/Z6uVjyLmWz — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 6, 2022 Spain, for the third consecutive World Cup, is on the way before the quarterfinals. In 2014 (Brazil), La Roja (The Red, in the Spanish translation) did not even make it past the first stage. Four years ago, in Russia, the Fury (another nickname of the Iberian national team) also fell on penalties and in the round of 16, only for the hosts. Despite having the team with the fourth lowest average age of the Cup and being a team in formation for the 2026 edition (United States, Mexico and Canada), the 2010 champions leave Qatar frustrated, after the excitement of starting the competition with a 7-0 over Costa Rica. The formation of that rout, in fact, was the base of the team that Luís Enrique sent to the field in Doha, with a surprising novelty: midfielder Marcos Llorente at right-back, instead of Dani Carvajal and Cesar Azpilicueta, who were doubtful, with calf pains. Rested in the 2-1 defeat by Japan, defender Aymeric Laporte, full-back Jordi Alba and forwards Ferran Torres and Marco Asensio returned to the team. The latter ended up winning the competition with Álvaro Morata (Furia’s top scorer in the World Cup in Qatar with three goals) for command of the attack. In the Moroccan national team, Walid Regragui repeated the lineup of the first two rounds, when the Atlas Lions drew 0-0 with Croatia and beat Belgium 2-0. The coach made only one change in relation to the team that overcame Canada by 2 to 1, with the departure of Abdelhamid Sabiri and the return of midfielder Selim Amallah. That winning feeling 🤩 🇲🇦 #FIFAWorldCup | #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/SdCu2E9wmF — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 6, 2022 The formations made the teams’ ideas clear. With the pieces advanced and compacted, Spain exchanged passes in profusion (there were 383 in the first half, with 362 hits, according to FIFA statistics), looking for spaces to break Morocco’s lines of marking, concentrated in the defense field. It is true that Fúria, the first time he managed to break through the block, came close to the goal. In the 25th minute, Asensio received the ball in the area on the left, behind defender Nayef Aguerd, but the shot hit the net from the outside. Throughout the initial stage, however, the strategy of the Lions of the Atlas, of patiently waiting for the ideal moment to tackle and speeding out, worked better, especially on the left, with Sofiane Boufal practically ignoring Llorente’s presence. At 41 minutes, the striker easily dribbled the makeshift winger and crossed the area for Aguerd, with a header, to almost open the scoring. The scenario was maintained in the second half, forcing Luís Enrique to look for alternatives, such as the entry of Morata to be the reference in the area, replacing Asensio. It did little good, however. At 35 minutes, the number 7 received between the feet of fellow striker Nico Willians, on the right. The kick, without an angle, almost on the bottom line, turned into a low cross, with no one (which, in theory, should be Morata himself) to complete. To resist the Spanish pressure and not lose intensity, Walid Regragui refreshed the Moroccan counterattack, taking out Amallah, Boufal and Youssef En-Nesyri to put on Sabiri, Abde Ezzalzouli and Walid Cheddira. At 40 minutes, the last two were on the almost play started by Hakim Ziyech. The midfielder opened for Hakimi to cross from the right, in the head of Ezzalzouli, who anchored in the small area for Cheddira. The attacker, on his back, managed to spin, but the kick came out pressed. The duel, truncated, went to overtime. The greater physical wear, despite the teams maintaining their respective strategies, caused the two most dangerous plays of the match. Four minutes into the first extra time, Cheddira received from midfielder Azzedine Ounahi, between defenders Rodri and Laporte, but hit goalkeeper Unai Simon. Already in the last bid of the second stage, striker Pablo Sarabia was launched at the back of the defense and kicked first, crossed, in the small area, hitting the post. THE HERO 👑🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/WCaCZEmHqh — FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 6, 2022 As fate would have it, Sarabia, who entered the field at the end of extra time, precisely for the penalty shootout, stopped again at the post , in the first Spanish kick. Midfielder Carlos Soler and defensive midfielder Sérgio Busquets, in turn, had their strikes saved by Bounou. Defender Badr Banoun, another one who entered in the final moments, wasted the opportunity he had, defended by Simon, but he was not missed: Sabiri, Ziyech and Hakimi, with a cavadinha, took the Lions of the Atlas to the quarterfinals.
Agência Brasil
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