Morocco made history Saturday, becoming the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal.
The Atlas Lions defeated Portugal 1-0 to continue their sparkling run in Qatar. Youssef En-Nesyri scored the game’s only goal, heading the ball into the net just minutes before halftime.
Morocco’s defense also kept a clean sheet, having held fellow semifinalist Croatia to a draw in the group stage, and defeated Belgium, Spain and now Portugal on their way there.
The Al Thumama Stadium was filled with cheers, drums and whistles on Saturday as Morocco made history. The Atlas Lions defeated Portugal 1-0, ending what is likely to be Cristiano Ronaldo’s last World Cup.
The Portugal captain was left in tears walking down the tunnel after the final whistle, while Regragui was lifted into the air in the now trademark Morocco victory celebration.
The match began with Portugal dominating possession, but they were unable to break through the defense of the well-organized Morocco team, who have only conceded one goal during the Qatar 2022 campaign.
The last time these two sides met in the 2018 World Cup, Ronaldo scored the only goal. He started on the bench for the second consecutive match this time.
Portugal’s João Félix had two attempts in the opening 30 minutes, the first a powerful, accurate header that forced Morocco’s goalkeeper Yassine “Bono” Bounou into action. The second was a strike that deflected off two players, but flew just over the net.
However, Morocco got the breakthrough three minutes before halftime, with Yahia Attiyat-Allah’s perfect floated ball into the box headed in by En-Nesyri.
Ronaldo came on after the break to make his 196th international appearance, becoming the joint most-capped men’s player of all time. However, his presence did not affect the game as Portugal stayed stranded outside the box for much of the second half, held in place by a defiant Moroccan defense.
Bounou was up to the challenge, pulling off a spectacular save to deny a powerful Bruno Fernandes strike and pushing Felix’s effort over the crossbar.
With eight minutes of stoppage time on the clock, Morocco edged closer to a famous victory against reigning European champions Portugal. The tension was palpable on the sidelines as coaches, support staff and players from both sides nervously watched on.
Walid Cheddira was sent off for two yellow cards in quick succession, reducing Morocco to 10 men for the remaining minutes. Although Ronaldo had a chance to equalize, his low shot was denied by Bounou.
Zakaria Aboukhlal also had the chance to seal Morocco’s victory, but his attempt to round Costa failed.
Pepe’s header glanced just wide of the goal, and Morocco held on for a memorable 1-0 win.