By TALES AZZONI (AP Sports Writer)
AL RAYYAN, Qatar (AP) — Morocco turned the primary Arab nation and solely the fourth African nation to advance to the World Cup quarterfinals, beating Spain 3-0 in a penalty shootout on Tuesday.
Achraf Hakimi, who was born in Madrid and beforehand performed for Real Madrid, transformed the deciding penalty within the shootout. Abdelhamid Sabiri and Hakim Ziyech, who returned to the nationwide group after a dispute with the earlier coach, additionally scored for Morocco.
Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets missed their penalties for Spain, with Sarabia hitting the publish and Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stopping the opposite two.
The groups drew 0-0 in regulation and further time.
Sarabia had entered the match within the remaining minutes of additional time, apparently for the shootout. He changed Nico Williams, who had additionally are available as an alternative earlier within the match.
Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón stopped the penalty by Badr Banoun. Simón’s counterpart, Bounou, performs for Spanish membership Sevilla.
Morocco has been the largest shock of the event and can subsequent face both Portugal or Switzerland.
Morocco can also be the one group from outdoors Europe or South America to make it to the final eight. The group made the spherical of 16 as soon as earlier than, on the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Spain was eradicated by host Russia in a penalty shootout on the 2018 World Cup, and by Italy within the semifinals of final yr’s European Championship.
“We were unable to score … so no matter how much we say that we deserved to win for the chances we created and for playing more in their area, it is not going to change anything,” Simón mentioned. “The only thing left for us is to accept that we have been eliminated.”
It was the fifth straight time Spain performed additional time in a knockout spherical of a serious event. The group performed 120 minutes towards Russia and in all three of its knockout video games at Euro 2020.
Morocco and Spain are shut neighbors with a posh geopolitical relationship.
Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana are the one different African nations to achieve the World Cup quarterfinals. None of the three superior to the semifinals.
Moroccan followers considerably outnumbered — and had been louder — than the Spaniards at Education City Stadium.
Neither group was in a position to create many important scoring probabilities. Morocco appeared glad to maintain Spain controlling possession and seemed to threaten on counterattacks
Both groups had just a few alternatives in additional time, with Spain closest to scoring with a final try by Sarabia that clipped the publish.
It was the second final 16 match to enter additional time at this yr’s World Cup. Croatia beat Japan on penalties Monday.
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Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni
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AP World Cup protection: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Source: www.bostonherald.com”