Morocco Crashes out of World Cup Despite Spirited Fight Against Portugal

Morocco today became the second African country to exit the World Cup edition after a 1-0 loss to Portugal at the Luzhniki Stadium.

Portugal Captain Cristiano Ronaldo’s 4^th minute header separated the two sides at full time. The 33-year-old ghosted the Moroccan defence to power in a Jao Moutinho’s corner from the edge of the six-yard-box.

The strike puts the Real Madrid forward one goal ahead of European top scorer Ferenc Puskas. His strike broke the tie with Puskas to make him the highest ever goal scorer for a European team, only Iran’s Ali Daei, on 105, has more.

Despite going ahead early, it was far from an easy ride for the Portuguese as they struggled to hold on to their fragile lead. Like their game against Iran, Morocco enjoyed the majority of the possession (54.8%) and even had more shot attempts, corners but couldn’t find the target.

Herve Renard opted for a changed line up starting with Khalid Boutaib and Ajax super star Hakim Ziyech instead of CAF championship top scorer Ayoub El Kaabi who played the first game against Iran.

Manuel Da Costa came on for Romain Saiss in central defence while Nabil Dirar replaced winger Amine Hart and the changes worked like magic. They were better moving forward and apart from the 4^th minute howler, the North Africans were mostly solid at the back.

The changes paid off as Medhi Benatia and Mbark Boussaufa came close a number of times continuously causing the European giants problems. Watford winger Nordin Amrabat – a doubt before game day – was a menace for Portugal on the right with plenty of neat touches but the end product was still lacking.

To put Morocco’s dominance into perspective, the North Africans had more touches inside the Portuguese box than Spain but still failed to score.

The Atlas Lions showed a glimpse of real quality and were by far the better side but were unlucky not to find the back of the net.

Despite the early exit, Morocco has surely done their country proud. Their energy levels, movement and pressing were remarkable, but the team was unlucky to go away with nothing. They will definitely go home with their heads held high.