Quarterfinals of the World Cup
Morocco create history and continue dream trip against Portugal – Was it for Ronaldo?
Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has to bury what may be his last hope of winning the World Cup. After Spain, Portugal also fails due to the biggest surprise team of the tournament in Qatar.
Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch – Morocco, on the other hand, continues its dream journey into the semi-finals.
Outsiders Morocco became the first African side to reach the semi-finals of their dream World Cup tour, sending home wildcard Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal. The Atlas Lions beat the former European champions 1-0 (1-0) on Saturday evening thanks to a goal by Youssef En-Nesyri (42′) at the Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha. Morocco ended the duel with ten men, Walid Cheddira, who came on after just over an hour, was shown the yellow and red card in the agitated final phase (90+3).
Coach Walid Regragui’s team aroused great applause not only among the 44,198 spectators, mostly Moroccans, with the triumph of the quarter-finals, but also in the African and Arab world. The Moroccans are now calling for the winner of the match between defending champions France and European runners-up England on Wednesday (20:00).
Great celebrations after the match: Moroccan coach Walid Regragui is led by his players by the hand.
For the Portuguese, the best finish in the World Cup is third place in 1966 with the legendary Eusébio. The first participation in the quarter-finals of the World Cup since 2006 ended in bitter disappointment. This was especially true of superstar Ronaldo, who at the age of 37 had to bury his perhaps last hope of winning the world title. After the striker was not in the starting eleven in the 6-1 win against Switzerland in the round of 16 for the first time since 2008, the captain had to return to the bench.
Ronaldo returns to the bench
He was replaced by 21-year-old Gonçalo Ramos, who scored a hat-trick against the Swiss national team (6-1) on his World Cup debut. This time he remained pale. With the arrival of Ronaldo in the 51st minute, coach Fernando Santos gave the former world footballer at least one more international record: With his 196th international match, Ronaldo equaled the world record of Kuwaiti Badr al-Mutawa.
First found on the bench: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo converted a penalty in a 3-2 win against Ghana earlier in the tournament and has now scored in five finals, a feat no player had ever achieved before. However, Eusébio remains Portugal’s top goalscorer in the World Cup with nine goals.
The Moroccan outsider faced the most important match in his footballing history with a serious handicap: Bayern Munich defender Noussair Mazraoui and West Ham United’s Nayef Aguerd were sidelined with injuries. Attrition against Spain in the previous round had left its mark. The North Africans, who had conceded just one goal in their previous four World Cup matches, went visibly more aggressive against Portugal. After five minutes they nearly made it 1-0: goalkeeper Bono, protagonist of the penalty shoot-out against Spain, managed to deflect João Félix’s header for a corner.
Error by the Portuguese goalkeeper
The Portuguese otherwise showed a lot of respect for the opponent, in which the right flank in particular made a name for himself with Hakim Ziyech from Chelsea and former Dortmunder Achraf Hakimi from Paris Saint-Germain. Furthermore, the Europeans had to listen to the high-pitched boos of the Moroccan fans every time they touched the ball. A header from En-Nesyri (26′) went wide of the Portuguese goal, but testified to increasingly daring attacking efforts by the Moroccans. Portugal’s defensive line around substitute captain Pepe, who is playing in his fourth World Cup at the age of 39, has always been tested.
The Portuguese goalkeeper goes wide – En-Nesyri headers.
Ronaldo watched with a mostly impassive face as João Félix’s goal threat flared up again at the other end: his ball landed deflected on goal after a good half hour. But then the Africans struck: goalkeeper Diogo Costa cleared a cross and Sevilla’s powerful jumper En-Nesyri headed into the lead. Ronaldo grimaced on the substitutes bench.
Morocco defends itself disciplined
Moments later, Morocco were lucky as Bruno Fernandes’ cross landed on the crossbar of Bono’s goal in what was now a thrilling match. After the break, it wasn’t long before Ronaldo was able to play. The Africans charged into each tackle passionately to defend their advantage as waves of Portuguese attacks poured towards Bono’s goal.
A central shot from Fernandes whizzed over the bar, otherwise Morocco’s wall remained standing. Bono deflected a dangerous shot from João Félix over the bar and also thwarted Ronaldo’s attempt early into eight minutes of added time. Zakaria Aboukhlal absentmindedly misses the 2-0 (90+6) on the break. In the end, the Moroccans celebrated again as Pepe headed wide a little later. (dpa)
