Morocco once again showed its cohesion to push Portugal (1-0) towards exit from the 2022 World Cup, thus entering World Cup history through the front door, becoming the first African team to qualify for the semi-finals.
After Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana, the fourth test will be a good one, and the new killer of European countries, which in Qatar overtook Croatia, Belgium, Spain and now the Seleção, will have the opportunity on Wednesday to continue its march. Action against France or England.
Today's hero for the Atlas Lions, who ended up on the ropes exhausted, is called En-Nesyri. The great striker, who was already a top scorer in Russia and even in Qatar, took advantage just before half-time from a difficult exit from Diogo Costa to score a perfect header (42nd) and open a hitherto very tactical encounter.
Aware of the Moroccans' defensive discipline, Portugal began by trying to press high to regain the ball quickly and then go down to try to force their opponent out before being astonished by the accuracy of Fernandes' long game.
Ronaldo is crying
A plan that could have worked quickly if Felix had been more straightforward (5). But Bono, who then gained momentum (74, 83) at the height of the Portuguese rush in the second half, cited his counterpart's number.
In the trap, Fernando Santos had no other choice but to quickly push Ronaldo (51), while Ramos, who scored the hat-trick against Switzerland, was transparent this time.
The 196th international match for CR7, the new co-owner of the number of international selections, allowed Portugal to establish control of the match, but they did not equalize despite the duel between the star and Bono (90).
The Portuguese can only blame themselves because, facing the Moroccans who lost Saiss (57) and logically suffered after all the efforts they have made so far, they faced several situations to return to the result. But when they did not meet a difficult goalkeeper, Fernandes, who had already hit the crossbar immediately after the score (43rd), saw the crossbar go wide (64th).
But the exclusion of Chedira (90+3) did not derail Morocco, which has only conceded one goal since the start of the World Cup. At times, he was on the verge of collapse, even achieving the feat of keeping a fourth clean sheet in five matches.
Having left in tears after this tragic scenario for Portugal, Ronaldo, who faces increasing competition within the Seleção, will now have the opportunity to explain the continuity he intends to give to his career at the age of 37.
