Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 on Saturday to become the first African country to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup
Post Date – 10:49 PM, Sat – 12/10/22
Moroccan players celebrate with their head coach Waleed Regraj after their World Cup quarter-final match against Portugal at the Al Thumama stadium in Doha. (Photo by Associated Press)
doha: Morocco beat Portugal 1-0 on Saturday to become the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, likely ending Cristiano Ronaldo’s chances of winning football’s top prize.
Youssef En-Nesyri scored the winning goal in the 42nd minute, continuing Morocco’s incredible display that had brought the Arab world pride during the first World Cup in the Middle East.
Ronaldo, 37, one of football’s greatest players, did not start for the second game in a row but came off the bench in the 51st minute and missed a chance to equalize in stoppage time.
The five-time World Player of the Year will end his career without a World Cup title or a final. He walked off the field straight after the final whistle and cried as he walked down the tunnel.
Morocco will face either France or England in the semifinals.
It was a seminal moment in World Cup history when an African nation finally advanced to a level normally only achieved by European or South American teams. Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) all reached the quarter-finals but made no further progress.
Off the pitch, the Moroccan team – coached by French-born Walid Regragui and featuring 14 foreign-born players – is uniting the Arab world and inspiring fans from different countries to showcase Arab identities .
There’s no reason why Morocco, which topped a group that included second-placed Belgium and fellow semi-finalists Croatia after a round of 16 penalty shootout, has now beaten two European heavyweights in Spain. All the way to the top – with Portugal in the quarter-finals.
Morocco’s defense has yet to concede a goal at this year’s World Cup – the only one allowed was an own goal – and it stifled Portugal, who beat Switzerland 6-1 in the round of 16 for favorites .
In a game played amidst the incessant whistles and jeers of enthusiastic Moroccan fans, the team relied almost entirely on counterattacks and scored from one of the goals.
A cross from the left saw Ennesiri leap with a header between Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa and defender Ruben Dias.
Ronaldo, who will be 41 by the time of the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, has been hoping to reach the semi-finals for the second time since 2006.
Despite his best efforts, he didn’t touch the ball until stoppage time when he slid in from behind the Moroccan defense from a long ball. His low shot was saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and he didn’t have much to do until then.
Substitute Walid Cheddira was shown the red card for Morocco in stoppage time as he picked up a second yellow card within minutes. Portuguese centre-back Pepe then headed wide from inside the six-yard box.
Ronaldo fell to his knees in frustration. While Lionel Messi will represent Argentina in the semi-finals, another football superstar of this generation will not.
