Morocco made history as they become the first African side to reach the World Cup semi-finals after beating Portugal 1-0 at Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday.
Youssef En-Nesyiri’s towering header in the 42nd minute was enough to stun the Portuguese, with Morocco applying another rearguard showing.
Portugal threw men forward in search of the equalizer but Morocco’s defense held firm even though they were without their skipper Romain Saiss, who left the pitch clutching his knee.
Morocco will now face the winner between England and France, who are playing later tonight.
Again Portugal coach Fernando Santos kept Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench, having also done so in the round of 16 when they crushed Switzerland 6-1.
The former Manchester United forward came on in the second half, with a lot of applause on the stands.
But the world’s megastar was not given a chance to test Yassine Bounou in Morocco’s goal.
Morocco were credited by dumping Spain in the round of 16 on penalty shootouts, blanking one of the best ball playing sides in world football.
The Atlas Lions were again here tight, nice and compact which saw them make history to reach the World Cup final four.
In these World Cup finals, they have not been breached by opposition, with only conceding one goal which was an own goal against Canada in the group stages.
As it worked against Spain to become the fourth African nation to reach World Cup quarter finals, another rear-guard against Portugal was expected. But they made things easy for themselves as En- Nasyri jumped ahead in between Diogo Costa and Ruben Dias to score the all important goal.
It was a goal that is familiar to Ronaldo in his storied career, as he haplessly thumped his face down on the bench. However, Bruno Fernandez’s instinctive first time shot almost caught Yassine Bounou off guard for an equalizer but it came off the crossbar.
Afterwards, Yahya Attiat-Allah had a great chance for Morocco to double the lead but fluffed it with only goalie to beat.
But the superstar Ronaldo was informed to warm up after the second half had started and Santos introduced him in the 50th minute with his family looking on.
The Portuguese threw everything in the final minutes but Morocco’s defence stood firm.
In stoppage time, Walid Cheddira was shown a second yellow and the Moroccans were reduced to ten men. But despite being a man down, the Atlas Lions held on for the historic win.
This was the second time Morocco beat Portugal in the World Cup finals, after doing so in 1986 in Mexico.
