CNN
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Morocco Created history on Saturday as the first African team to reach the final world Cup They continued their impressive form in Qatar by beating Portugal 1–0 in the semi-finals.
Youssef An-Nesri scored the only goal of the game, rising above to slot the ball into the net a few minutes before halftime, while the Moroccan defense once again kept a clean sheet.
The Atlas Lions have become one of the stories of the tournament, holding fellow semi-finalists Croatia to a draw in the group stage, and defeating Belgium, Spain and now Portugal in the semi-finals.
“First it was just Moroccans who supported us, now it’s Africans and Arabs,” manager Walid Regragui said before the quarterfinals, referring to the electric atmosphere with his team at every game.
And on Saturday, the Al Thumama Stadium reverberated with applause, drums and whistles, as if almost the entire continent and region were inside, watching their team make history.
The defeat for Portugal ended Cristiano Ronaldo’s chances of a last World Cup as even he could not breach the Moroccan defense and broke down in tears as he walked into the tunnel after the final whistle.
Meanwhile, the Atlas Lions launch Regragui into the air in their now trademark victory celebration.
The last time these two teams met in the 2018 World Cup, Ronaldo scored the only goal of the game. This time Ronaldo started on the bench for the second consecutive match.
Both teams made bright starts, with Portugal dominating but unable to break down Morocco’s well-manicured defence, which conceded just one goal during Qatar 2022.
Joao Felix’s two efforts presented the only real Portuguese threat in the opening 30 minutes – the first, a powerful, accurate header forcing goalkeeper Yacine “Bono” Bouno into action and the second, a strike that deflected off two players, wildly Ricocheting, but landing on top of the net.
Instead, it was Morocco who got the breakthrough three minutes before half-time as Yahya Attiyat-Allah floated the ball perfectly into the box and lofted it high above En-Nesri goalkeepers Diogo Costa and Rubén Dias to loft it into the net.
Ronaldo entered the field just after the break for his 196th international appearance, becoming the joint-most capped male player of all time.
But even he could not stamp his authority on the game as Portugal remained trapped outside the box for much of the second half, held by the Moroccan defence.
Any shot that made it past the front lines of defense was marshalled by Bouno, who beat a powerful Bruno Fernandes out of the air and minutes later grabbed Felix’s effort over the crossbar with his outstretched hand.
As regulation time ticked down to eight minutes of stoppage time, Ronaldo had a chance to equalize but his low shot was again well saved by Bauno.
As the game entered its final minutes, coaches, support staff and players from both sides thronged the sidelines.
Walid Chedira was red-carded for two yellow cards in the same number of minutes as his side managed to defend their slender lead with just 10 men in the final six minutes.
Zakaria Aboukhlal broke free on the counter-attack and only Costa had to score but was unable to do so to seal the victory for Morocco, while Pepe’s header flashed just wide for Portugal in front of goal.
Ultimately, however, Morocco held on for a deserved and famous victory that would be remembered for years to come.