Morocco upset yet another European powerhouse Saturday when it beat Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal 1-0 at Al Thumama Stadium.
However, its toughest challenge to date is just around the corner, as it will play defending world champion France, which beat England 2-1, in Wednesday’s semifinal (2 p.m. ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).
Here’s everything that happened at the World Cup on Saturday.
Going into Saturday’s match, Portugal was one of the hottest teams in the tournament, and it seemed like it had finally found a replacement for Ronaldo’s goal-scoring in Gonçalo Ramos. Then Saturday came, and none of that mattered.
Morocco, the only squad left in the tournament not ranked in the top 15 by FIFA, was clinical in the counterattack and had nine shots on goal — and the only goal of the game — despite losing the possession battle 73% to 27%. It also held Portugal scoreless. Morocco has only allowed one goal all tournament (an own goal vs. Canada in the group stage).
With the result, Morocco became the first African team to advance to the World Cup semifinals. Its next opponent will be its toughest yet, but nothing about what they’ve shown at the tournament suggests they’ll be afraid of the moment.
As for Portugal, it will look to the future, one that likely won’t include its legendary striker. By the time the 2026 World Cup rolls around, Ronaldo will be 41.
Morocco-Portugal highlights
Morocco got a goal late in the first half and kept Portugal off the scoreboard to earn a spot in the semifinals.
Despite England’s best efforts, France held on to advance to the World Cup semifinals for the second consecutive tournament and the third time in the last five World Cups. The last defending World Cup champion to make a semifinal was Brazil in 1998.
England had a golden opportunity to send the game to extra time with its second penalty kick of the night, but Harry Kane — who has scored more penalties than anyone in World Cup history and now more goals than any man in England’s history — sailed his attempt over his Tottenham teammate Hugo Lloris in goal.
Since 1966, no team that had been awarded two penalties in one match had lost. Not the type of history the Three Lions were hoping to make Saturday.
It was a familiar result for England at this stage of the tournament, but it came close to beating a France team that’s considered almost unbeatable at full strength.
England-France highlights
The defending champions marched on, holding off England.
SAVE OF THE DAY
Yassine “Bono” Bounou was the Man of the Match for Morocco again Saturday and deservedly so; he just continues to make the most incredible saves. He also became the first African keeper to record three clean sheets in a single World Cup.
ASSIST OF THE DAY
Olivier Giroud came through for France once again against England, but had it not been for Antoine Griezmann’s perfect cross into the box, Giroud likely would have had to pull one of his many acrobatic finishes out of his bag.
GOAL OF THE DAY
Aurélien Tchouaméni wasn’t even supposed to start for France at the World Cup, but injuries to key midfielders — most notably N’Golo Kante and Paul Pogba — forced Didier Deschamps’ hand.
While Deschamps would almost certainly love to have someone with Tchouaméni’s talent available off the bench, it’s safe to assume he was happy to have him in his first XI on Saturday.
MUST-SEE MOMENT
If you asked artificial intelligence to create the most comically French soccer fan, this is probably what it would look like.
There are no matches on Sunday, Dec. 11.
Read more from the World Cup:
Listen:
Get more from FIFA World Cup 2022 Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more
Sponsored Content
Bet the World Cup in Wager.dm
