Cristiano Ronaldo left with tears – Sport – Kommersant
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The Moroccan national team presented another loud sensation at the World Cup. After she knocked out the Spaniards in the 1/8 finals, she managed to send the Portuguese home as well. The Moroccans took the lead thanks to a goal by Youssef En-Nesiri, and then they safely kept the winning result – 1:0. Now they are waiting for the semi-finals. Previously, no African team has reached such a high stage at the World Championships.
The Moroccan national team received a lot of compliments for their performance at the World Cup, but almost all experts agreed that they could not beat the Portuguese in the quarterfinals. She conceded only one goal in the group stage, and not from the Croats or the Belgians, but in the game with the Canadians, and that was scored by defender Nayef Agerd. And the Spaniards in the 1/8 finals failed never hit the Moroccan gate even in a penalty shootout. And yet, the prevailing view was that the Atlas Lions had reached their maximum in the tournament. Firstly, they spent a lot of energy in the first round of the play-offs and also lost two leading defensive line players – the mentioned Agerd, as well as Nussair Mazraoui. The main argument against the pretty team of Valid Regraga was that they were opposed by an opponent who simply crushed the highly respected Swiss team in the 1/8 finals, rolling six goals into it, and looked like a real contender for the champion title.
Well, except that the return to the starting lineup of the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo could play into the hands of the Moroccans. It has already been noted that at this World Cup he rather prevented the team from realizing its huge potential than helped.
And as soon as the coach of the Portuguese Fernando Santos made the difficult decision to put the superstar on the bench, the rest of the stars immediately liberated themselves and began to festival. As a result, Ronaldo again remained on the “bank”, and the functions of the shock forward were again assigned to the 21-year-old Goncalo Ramos, who scored a hat-trick in the match with the Swiss.
It is quite natural that the Moroccans wanted to lure the Portuguese into the Spanish trap. We closed and offered the enemy to try to open this safe. And the wards of Santos looked no better than the Spaniards, who only did what they endlessly chased the ball up and down. João Félix’s debut headbutted the Moroccan goalkeeper Yassin Bouna, but the moment came from a set piece, not a field game. The game for the Portuguese was reduced to possession of the ball for the sake of possession. Only after half an hour did Felix again have the opportunity to shoot after rebounding from someone else’s penalty area, and even the rebound disorientated Buna, but the Moroccans were lucky.
Meanwhile, while the Portuguese national team remembered how she tore Swiss, “Atlas lions” made several raids on the gates of Diogo Costa. And, by the way, Selim Amalla could well have opened the scoring when he closed Sofyan Bufal’s cross from the left. Then Bufal himself tested Costa with a long-range shot. In addition, the powerful striker Youssef En-Nesiri constantly put pressure on the central defenders, and it was he who crushed the vaunted Ruben Dias in the 42nd minute of the match. Yahya Attiyyat-alla crossed into the penalty area, and En-Nesiri sent the ball into the net in a high jump. Not only Dias, but also Costa lost this air fight to the forward of the Spanish Sevilla.
The Portuguese experienced a slight shock from this development. After all, everyone called them favorites and almost “brought” them to the semi-finals in advance.
When the fried rooster pecked, they still wound up and spent the end of the first half quite energetically. Bruno Fernandes even hit the crossbar, unexpectedly charging from the right flank, from where they usually serve, not beat. He also tried to provoke the referee to appoint a penalty, but the Argentine Facundo Tello did not follow the lead of the Manchester United midfielder. So by the break, the Portuguese national team was sensationally inferior 0:1.
Moreover, at the beginning of the second half, the Moroccans almost increased the difference from the standard. Already Costa was lucky that the ball emerged from the cluster of players right at him.
This episode served as a signal for Santos to urgently make personnel adjustments, and Ronaldo entered the field along with João Cancelo.
But at Regraga, the captain and stronghold of defense Romain Saiss, who finished the match with the Spaniards almost on one leg, was out of action.
The Portuguese climbed forward, and Ramos had a chance to almost mirror the goal of En-Nesiri. And although he hit without resistance at all, he did not hit the target. Apparently, as they say, the Benfica striker shot all the cartridges in the 1/8 finals. And in general, the Santos team, such an impression, scored all the goals against the Swiss and left nothing for the Moroccans. Even Fernandes missed from a lethal position and, in some desperation, clutched his head, because with all the advantage of the Portuguese team, they had few such moments.
Regraga’s wards kept their defensive formations slender, despite injuries, fatigue and constant attacks from the opponent. And when Felix fired from Ronaldo’s pass in the direction of the far “nine”, the partners were rescued by the brilliant Bunu. He repelled the blow of Ronaldo himself, who, however, did not radically change this game. On the third of eight added minutes, the Moroccans ran into a second yellow card, Walid Sheddira, and the Portuguese almost used the numerical advantage. Rafael Lean, it seemed, gave a convenient pass to Pepe, who came running to the goal, but the 39-year-old central defender managed to miss, despite the fact that he was in the goalkeeper’s area.
The Portuguese national team lost 0:1 and flew out of the tournament.
Ronaldo, 37, for whom this was apparently the last World Cup, even burst into tears on the way to the locker room.
Well, the Moroccans continue to make history. They became the first representatives of the African continent who managed to reach the semi-finals of the world championship. And who knows what else this daring and very organized team is capable of.
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