Brave Morocco advance as Spain flop in shoot-out

Al Rayyan — Achraf Hakimi calmly converted a penalty to send Morocco through to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time with a 3-0 shoot-out win over former champions Spain after a cagey last-16 clash ended goalless on Tuesday.

Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saved spot-kicks from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets after Pablo Sarabia had hit the post and Spanish-born Hakimi held his nerve to earn his team a quarterfinal against either Portugal or Switzerland.

Morocco became only the fourth African nation to reach the last eight of the tournament, 12 years after Ghana did so in SA.

After a scrappy match finished 0-0 after extra time with few shots on target for either side, Morocco fed off the raucous support of their red-clad supporters in the shoot-out as Spain crumbled.

Spain enjoyed more than 75% of possession and completed more than 1,000 passes but Morocco caused problems for them on the counterattack and goalkeeper Unai Simon made some good saves.

It was the fourth time Spain have been knocked out of the World Cup on penalties and the second in a row.

The Spanish spent big chunks of the match orbiting the Morocco penalty area without attempting any shots, through balls or moves to break down their well organised opponents.

Morocco tried to use the pace of Hakim Ziyech and Soufiane Boufal and a foul on the latter gave the African side the first scoring opportunity as Hakimi blazed over a free kick.

Defender Nayef Aguerd headed over and Marco Asensio hit the side-netting for Spain.

Dani Olmo had Spain’s first shot on-target in the 54th minute with a angled shot which Bounou palmed away.

Spain coach Luis Enrique sent on Alvaro Morata and Nico Williams to inject life into his team and Morocco had to dig deep to get through extra time without conceding. They managed to do so and Spain's collapse in the shoot-out prompted wild celebrations among the Morocco supporters.

It was a cauldron of noise inside the stadium from kickoff as Morocco fans vastly outnumbered their Spanish counterparts and it was the “Maghreb” who were left celebrating at the final whistle. Their supporters sang, chanted and banged their drums for the entire 120 minutes, with loud piercing whistles ringing around every time Spain were on the ball.

After Hakimi converted the winner players ran around the pitch in a daze, manager Walid Regragui had his head in his hands in disbelief at what he had just witnessed, before they lay prostrate on the turf and then jumped up and down in front of supporters.

Morocco’s only previous appearance in the last 16 came in 1986, but they have now extended their unbeaten run in the World Cup to five games and kept a clean sheet in six out of their last seven in all competitions.

For 2010 winners Spain, their campaign ends in misery after such an optimistic start when they hammered Costa Rica 7-0 in their opening game. They tried to pass Morocco into submission but the opposition held firm, the favourites having just one shot on target from their 1,019 passes.

Enrique had said his side needed to do their homework on penalties, practising over 1,000 in training in the lead-up to the match, but they will need to go back to the drawing board after missing all of their spot-kicks.

Reuters