Match Summary
Round of 16 Morocco v Spain Match Review
Minutes that Mattered
Welcome to the briefest of match summaries, like a minute by minute you find on professional websites except one that has only the minutes that matter. All wheat, no chaff.
And if the below isn’t enough, for those in Australia you can catch up via the SBS World Cup on Demand.
1′ Min Not sure if it was an accident or a preview into Morocco’s tactics for the game, but they give away a free kick within 17 seconds. Only at an RSL on Anzac Day will you see a clash happen quicker.
2′ Min An early sighter (or sounder) into the crowd share, as there are deafening whistles every time Spain touch the ball. That’s going to get boring real quick, it’s Spain, who will only have 75% possession. So it looks like Morocco are the second most represented here at the game, just behind empty seats. The whistling doesn’t relent either, approaching vuvuzela levels of annoyance after a while.
10′ Min Free kick given to Morocco as Sofiane Boufal goes down in a Klinsmann type of way. Hakim Ziyech is one of the two players discussing the free kick, and real is a magician of the dead ball but it is Achraf Hakimi that takes the shot and his curling effort just clears the crossbar. But hey, it’s an attempt, something to balance out the passing.
12′ Min Again a goalkeeper stuffing around with the ball right on their goal line, and the Moroccan keeper Yassine Bounou just gets away with this. We’ll say this again, we think this World Cup will be decided by a keeper or defender making a howler trying to play the ball at the wrong time.
21′ Min Good little stint here Morocco who have the ball and are actually doing something with it. Going down both sides with Hakim Ziyech on one side and Sofiane Boufal particularly catching the eye with his skills. The final passes are not quite there, which is why the scoreboard is not quite there with any goals
24′ Min If you overlook the most obvious offside of the match, then Spain have their best attacking chance of the game so far, with several attempts on goal either saved by the keeper or blocked by the desperate Moroccan defence. A minute later Marco Asensio has a golden opportunity to score and he puts it into the side netting. No goal but looks like we’re getting Spain having a crack at least. Or at last.
33′ Min Now there’s a decent shot from Morocco’s Noussair Mazraoui which is slammed straight at the Spanish keeper but stings his hands as he is unable to control it at first. No goal but good intention.
40′ Min Ironic that the score 0-0 looks like two eyes that are wide open, which is far from the case watching this game in the pacific regionin the ugly, early hours of Wednesday morning.
42′ Min Chance for Morocco with the ball crossing from side to side and eventually a cross landing in the box and Nayef Aguerd wasted a golden opportunity with a free header going over the crossbar. Moments later and they have another half chance but is stopped by the Spanish. If they had scored the lead would have been deserved as they have been by far the more positive side in attack.
HALF TIME – MOROCCO 0 SPAIN 0
46′ Min Free kick to Spain nice and early, and for some reason the Moroccan defender looks puzzled at how he can push an opponent in the back for five seconds and they eventually fall over with the ball. Nothing happened with the free kick for the record. Not even a shot.
53′ Min Another free kick to Spain, this one very close to the penalty area and we promise stuff has happened since the last one, just not that exciting. As for this free kick the ball is passed to Dani Olmo who cracks a fierce shot that goes straight at the Moroccan keeper who bats the powerful shot away, it was going in if he didn’t. But this game has 120 minutes plus penalty shootout written all over it.
60′ Min Another free kick to Spain after questionable contact. At least questioned by the Moroccan bench not far away. Of course instead of having a crack at goal, the first move is a short pass sideways, followed by another and so on. Morocco eventually break on the counter attack but it is stopped by some good covering defence.
63′ Min Alvaro Morata comes on, now here’s a player who can make a difference
80′ Min Ten minutes to go and we’re not 100% sure but this game looks to be heading for extra time, which is a genuine shame. Spain have a couple of chances around the 80th minute mark, the best coming from Alvaro Morata who crosses the ball across the face of the goal but no one is there. Anyone at the far post would have scored with ease.
84′ Min A stretcher is called for the injured Nayef Aguerd who walks off anyway.
85′ Min Golden chance for Morocco to score. A charge down the left, cross to the far post and inside pass to Walid Cheddira gives him a chance to score but his shot isn’t great. Much like the game to this point.
90′ Min Five minutes of added time on the board
90 +4′ Min Spain have a free kick in dangerous territory for the last chance to steal the game before extra time. The free kick is a good one and goes close. It earns follow up corner where Aymeric Laporte has a header to win but is blocked.
FULL TIME – MOROCCO 0 SPAIN 0
So off to extra time then.
94′ Min Morocco break through the middle and Walid Cheddira has a good chance to break the deadlock but stuffs the shot. Then you look back with the replays to see how far offside he was and wonder why they let play go on.
105′ Min Spain have a late corner to take the lead in the first portion of extra time but it fizzes out.
120′ Min The inevitable has happened and the game ends with no goals and we are off to penalty shootout.
EXTRA TIME – MOROCCO 0 SPAIN 0
PENALTY SHOOTOUT
Morocco Shot 1 – SCORED Abdelhamid Sabiri finds the bottom right of the goal easy.
Morocco 1-0
Spain Shot 1 – MISSED Pablo Sarabia hits the post and it goes out.
Morocco 1-0
Morocco Shot 2 – SCORED Hakim Ziyech goes up the middle and converts.
Morocco 2-0
Spain Shot 2 – MISSED Carlos Soler goes right, keeper goes left, keeper does well.
Morocco 2-0
Morocco Shot 3 – MISSED The mirror of the last kick as Badr Benoun goes left, keeper right and keeper saves.
Morocco 2-0
Spain Shot 3 – MISSED This is getting laughable for Spain as Sergio Busquets penalty is saved.
Morocco 2-0
Morocco Shot 4 – SCORED Achraf Hakimi chips up the middle and it goes in. Morocco have defeated Spain in the penalty shootout. They will now play Portugal or Switzerland, which is an attractively easier side of the draw, so a World Cup semi final chance is within reach.
Morocco 3-0
Final Score
MOROCCO 0
SPAIN 0
HT 0-0
FT 0-0
AET 0-0
Player of the Match
Hakim Ziyech
Points of Interest
- How wonderful to see a man in the crowd singing the Moroccan national anthem alongside his puppet monkey who also appeared to be singing the Moroccan national anthem.
- When you see Hakim Ziyech playing for Morocco you just wonder why he doesn’t get more of a go at Chelsea. But the London club is quite famous for turning superstars into also-rans like Kevin de Bruyne and Mo Salah.
- By now you have seen the many Pirlo Qatar Tourism ads, but interesting in the one where he swings the shirt above is head that he doesn’t actually make it into the water if you keep watching the ad. One wonders why he wouldn’t.
Round of 16 Morocco v Spain Match Stats
Coming soon.
Round of 16 Morocco v Spain Starting Teams
MOROCCO (4-3-3)
1 Bono
2 Hakimi
5 Aguerd
6 Saïss
3 Mazraoui
8 Ounahi
4 S Amrabat
15 Amallah
7 Ziyech
19 En-Nesyri
17 Boufal
SPAIN (4-3-3)
23 Simón
6 Llorente
16 Rodri
24 Laporte
18 Alba
9 Gavi
5 Busquets
26 Pedri
11 F Torres
10 Asensio
21 Olmo
