Are Morocco the ‘Dark Horses’ of the 2022 World Cup?

An ‘Ice Cold’ penalty from Madrid born ‘Achraf Hakimi’ saw Morocco stun the 2014 World Cup winners Spain. 

Yassine Bounou was the real hero for the African side, as he saved two of the three Spanish penalties in the shootout after the sides couldn’t be separated after 120 minutes. 

Walid Regragui was only appointed as Morocco manager three months ago and became the first ever African manager to reach the World Cup Quarter-finals. 

Regragui said: They knew they were going to make us run, that’s what we were talking about before the match. 

“We were patient, we wanted to try and win the game before penalties, but we knew if it went to penalties, we have one of the best goalkeepers in the world and had a good chance of winning. 

“We did have chances but, typically, as Spanish teams do, they kept the ball very well. 

“We fought for it, and we have a lot of injured players – we’ve had injured players since the beginning of the tournament – and that’s why it’s even more of a tremendous achievement. 

“If you told me at the beginning of the tournament that we’d play against all these top teams without losing a match and without letting in a goal, I would have signed straight away. 

“I’ve got a tremendous group of players; they’ve respected the instructions to the letter, and I don’t know how far we’re going to go now.”