Morocco have booked their place in the World Cup’s quarter-finals after a sensational penalty shootout win against Spain, becoming the first Arab country to ever reach the tournament’s last eight.The Atlas Lions’ Spanish-born superstar wing-back Achraf Hakimi brought the curtain down on Tuesday’s last-16 clash at the Education City Stadium, notching the winner from the spot to make it 3-0 on penalties and sending the tens of thousands of raucous Moroccan fans in attendance into rapture.Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets missed their penalties for Spain, with Sarabia hitting the post and Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou stopping the other two.The teams had earlier played out a goalless stalemate across more than 120 minutes of normal and extra time.Morocco will next face either Portugal or Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday. The Atlas Lions are the only team from outside Europe or South America still in the tournament.Spain’s penalty practice proves insufficientSpain had been hoping they could repeat their 2010 World Cup triumph in Qatar after a promising run at Euro 2020 which saw them reach the semi-finals before being beaten on penalties by Italy.Coach Luis Enrique said prior to Tuesday’s showdown with Morocco that he had instructed his charges to take “at least 1,000 penalties” in the build-up to the World Cup in a bid to ensure they were ready to deal with the pressure of a penalty shootout.But they came up short when it mattered, with Sarabia striking the post from Spain’s first penalty having been specifically sent on in anticipation of the shoot-out.His miss came after Abdelhamid Sabiri had sent Morocco 1-0 ahead in the shootout.Soler and Busquets then saw their efforts saved by Yassine Bounou, Morocco’s 31-year-old Canadian-born goalkeeper.For their part, Hakim Ziyech netted for the Atlas Lions to make it 2-0 in the shootout, before Badr Benoun missed.
![Morocco will next face either Portugal or Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]](https://www.newtimes.co.rw/thenewtimes/uploads/images/2022/12/06/thumbs/1200x700/7732.jpg "Morocco will next face either Portugal or Switzerland in the quarter-finals on Saturday [Showkat Shafi/Al Jazeera]")
