Football

World Cup 2022: Toothless Spain sent packing by Morocco

World Cup 2022: Toothless Spain sent packing by Morocco

Spain are exiting the 2022 World Cup at the first knockout round after losing on penalties to a stubborn and fierce Morocco side. The 2010 winners were toothless throughout with their lack of cutting-edge proving to be their downfall, as many predicted before the tournament kicked off. 

Morocco, on the other hand, put in a dogged performance and had their fair share of chances to win it throughout normal time but ultimately got the job done in a nervy penalty shootout. Captain, Achraf Hakimi, put away the final penalty with an audacious panenka. 

Possession counts for nothing

Spain have been famed for their passing game for decades now and their midfield trio of Busquets, Gavi and Pedri were as accurate as ever. With Manchester City midfielder, Rodri, playing in defence they had four players excellent in possession in the middle of the pitch. 

Unsurprisingly, Spain kept the ball well throughout the 120 minutes of action but did very little with it when they entered the final third. With 77% possession to their name, you’d have expected them to carve out a couple of big openings but the closest they came was through a Pablo Sarabia volley in injury time of extra time. 

The wide man ran onto a lofted cross at the back post and fired a volley which glanced off the far post before going behind for a goal kick. If it had gone in, then Spain would have been spared the torture of a penalty shootout loss. 

morocco win

More than parking the bus

On the face of it, a 0-0 result over 120 minutes and just 23% possession it would be easy to assume that Morocco parked the bus and played for penalties from minute one. The reality is actually very different. 

While Morocco boss, Walid Regragui, did set his team up to be difficult to break down they were dangerous on the counter-attack throughout the match and could have grabbed themselves a goal on a couple of occasions. 

Their best chance also came in extra time when Walid Cheddira was one on one with the goalkeeper but could only manage a weak effort into Unai Simon’s legs. 

Three penalties were enough

In a penalty shootout that saw Spain miss three out of three penalties, Morocco cruised to victory with three successful penalties out of four. Yassine Bounou was the hero of the hour for Morocco, saving spot-kicks from both Soler and Busquets while Sarabia fired his penalty into the post. 

While Unai Simon managed to save Badr Benoun’s penalty to give his side a glimmer of hope, three successful spot kicks from Sabiri, Ziyech and Hakimi were more than enough to send Morocco into their first-ever World Cup Quarter Final and Spain home. 

Next up, Morocco will have the opportunity to make history – no African side has ever made it past the quarter-finals of the competition. They will face either Portugal or Switzerland who face each other in tonight’s final quarter-final at 7pm. 

For Luis Enrique, he will have to decide whether he wants to continue his journey with the national team or go back into club football.


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