ARY-RAYYAN: Brave Morocco continued their dream run in the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022 as they downed Spain 3-0 on the penalty shoot-out to book a spot in the quarter-finals for the first time in their history.
The African side put on a defiant show against former champions Spain as they held them for a goalless tie in regulation time.
The teams were evenly matched throughout the nail-biting contest, with Spain enjoying the majority of the possession while Morocco, despite having fewer opportunities, created the better chances but all to no avail.
The 30-minute extra time followed the same procedure as both sides failed to break the deadlock before the knockout match entered the penalty shoot-out.
The 2010 champions produced a dismal show at the penalty shoot-out as they could not fire a single goal out of their three attempts despite coach Luis Enrique having claimed his players prepared by taking a thousand penalties as homework.
Pablo Sarabia hit the post as he took the first penalty for Spain, while Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets saw their strikes blocked by Yassine Bounou.
For Morocco, however, Abdelhamid Sabiri opened the scoring before Hakim Ziyech doubled their lead over Spain.
Achraf Hakimi then struck the decisive penalty to send Spain crashing out and Morocco into the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time.
The African-Arab side are undefeated in their last five games at World Cup and will now take on either Portugal or Switzerland. Their defence played a crucial role in their success, keeping three clean sheets in four games.
READ: Asian teams ‘getting closer’ despite World Cup knockout blows
