Morocco defeated Spain 3-0 in a penalty shootout to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup . Manager Walid Regragui praised goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, naming him one of the best goalkeepers in the country .
Al Rayyan (Qatar), December 7: Following Morocco's win over Spain in their round-the-six FIFA World Cup match, Morocco manager Walid Regragui praised goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, naming him one of the best goalkeepers in the country and claiming that the team had the experience of winning in penalties with him guiding the net.Morocco defeated Spain 3-0 in a penalty shootout to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup at the Education City Stadium on Tuesday in a crucial round-of-16 match, according to Morocco boss Walid Regragui.We were patient, we wanted to win the game before penalties, but we knew we had one of the best goalkeepers in the country and had a good chance of winning if it went to penalties.We had chances, but, as Spanish teams do, we did not have chances.We fought for it, and we have a lot of injured players-we have had injured players since the start of the tournament-and thats why signing would have been a great achievement.
Spain started the match dominating as they gained more control of the first few minutes.Sergio Busquets made a mistake in the 19th minute, giving Morocco a free kick.The free-kick from 25 yards failed to yield a goal as the ball crashed over the bar, failing to dip enough.Marco Asensio made a fantastic run for the Moroccan box in the 26th minute, blazing past the defenders but was unable to convert his attempt at the goal as he was forced to only find the side-netting by the Spanish goalkeeper.Spain tried to stop the 2010 champions by a spectacular run, but the Moroccan defence In the final minutes of the match, the Moroccans were able to pass within close range of the Spanish goal, but they could not convert their chances.Both teams raised the bar and turned on the heat in the second half to take the lead, which had eluded them in the first half. The winner of the game was determined by penalty shootouts.Morocco scored on their first kick through Sabiri, but Spain's Sarabia found the post to help Morocco take the lead.Ziyech scored for Morocco once more to give the African nation a 2-0 advantage.Spain faltered once more as Soler failed to push the ball past the keeper, but it seemed as though they would seal the match with the next kick, but Simon kept Spain in the game as Badr Benoun missed to score.Achraf Hakimi took the fourth kick for Morocco and advanced to the quarter-finals.