Spain struggled to find a score in the 120 minute match and even had difficulty scoring during the penalty shootout that led to their exit at the World Cup, as Morocco advanced to the quarterfinals and will face Portugal. Yassin Bounou made stunning and heroic penalty saves. Follow for more international soccer news and updates here!
Morocco became the fourth African side to reach the last eight of the World Cup — they are also the first African nation to win a penalty shootout at the World Cup. The Atlas Lions beat Spain in 3-0 penalty shootout win. You may visit to get updated on World Cup all soccer live scores here!
Just like in the 2018 World Cup, Spain’s struggle continued despite dominating possessions and had a lot of chances and shots on target, the team failed to deliver. Spain missed all three of the spot kicks, thanks to a brilliant performance by Goalkeeper Yassin Bounou.
Morocco’s qualification to the quarterfinals emulated the fantastic and high-caliber African team from the past like Cameroon, Senegal, and Ghana.
Sarabia, Carlos Soler, and Sergio Busquets’ spot kicks were saved by Bono, giving the favor to Morocco and leaving Achraf Hakimi to send Morocco to the quarter-finals and extend their stay in Qatar and send the thousands of Moroccan fans inside Education stadium into ecstasy.
Luis Enriquez’s Spain had a 77 percent possession and had made smooth ball movement, 926 accurate passes, and shots on target yet the team were unable to break down the excellent defense and resiliency of Morocco. The similar thing happened in the second half with Spain again dominated most of the possessions and still failed miserably that led to a penalty shootout which resulted in 3-0 in favor of Morocco.
Spain Head Coach, Luis Enrique addressed Spain’s misery in the penalty shootout to the media, he said: “It’s my responsibility. I picked the first three penalty-takers, and then they could decide themselves. But the first three were my decisions, and I would’ve done the same thing again. The only thing I wished I could do was to take Bono out and put another goalkeeper in there.”
Enrique also expressed his disappointment towards the result of the game, “We completely dominated the match, it’s a shame it went that way. It’s the most difficult thing, playing against a team like Morocco who are hard workers. The penalties cost us, but I am very proud of the team and all the players. I’m very sorry about the result but I congratulate Morocco.”
Walid Regragui, Morocco’s Head Coach, hailed his players for their performance as they eliminated Spain via penalties and to progress in the World Cup quarter-finals.
“They knew they were going to make us run, that’s what we were talking about before the match. We were patient, we wanted to try and win the game before penalties, but we knew if it went to penalties we had one of the best goalkeepers in the world and had a good chance of winning,” Regragui said during the post-game interview.
For the Morocco’s manager, beating Spain is a huge achievement as his team also deals with problems like players injuries, “We did have chances but, typically, as Spanish teams do, they kept the ball very well. We fought for it and we have a lot of injured players – we’ve had injured players since the beginning of the tournament – and that’s why it’s even more of a tremendous achievement.”
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