Morocco down Portugal to become first ever African World Cup semi-finalists

Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup semifinals as Youssef EnNesyris firsthalf goal sealed a tense 10 victory over Portugal on Saturday at Al Thumama StadiumThe Atlas Lions also the first Arab team to make the last four added Portugal to their list of European scalps with a resolute secondhalf performanceCristiano Ronaldo has likely played his last World Cup match after making an ineffectual appearance as a secondhalf substitute failing to score his first knockoutphase goal at the tournament before departing down the tunnel in tearsMorocco took a 42ndminute lead through EnNesyris header as they came on strongly late in the first periodPortugal piled on the pressure after the break but an injuryhit Morocco without three of their four firstchoice defenders once skipper Romain Saiss was forced off hung on despite being reduced to 10 men in added timeWe came up against a really great Portugal team Were drawing on all we have we still have guys injured I told the guys before the match we had to write history for Africa Im very very happy Regragui saidThe partisan crowd undoubtedly helped the North Africans over the line although Portugal struggled to create many clearcut chances as they lost a World Cup quarterfinal for the first timeI think it wasnt fair for us to lose but thats football said Portugal coach Fernando SantosWere upset because we thought we could reach the final and win the final as wellFivetime Ballon dOr winner Ronaldo was sent on early in the second half by Santos but could not rescue the Euro 2016 winnersInstead it was another famous day for Morocco after previous upset wins over Belgium and Spain on penalties in QatarWalid Regraguis men will face England or holders France in the semifinals at Al Bayt Stadium on WednesdayAlso Read FIFA World Cup 2022 France face England at World Cup after Brazil crash outMorocco will believe they can topple either of those sides having still only conceded once at this World CupPortugal enjoyed the majority of possession in the opening halfhour but Joao Felixs fifthminute diving header saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was the closest either side came to an early goalMorocco always looked dangerous though and Selim Amallah ballooned a shot over and Sofiane Boufal curled straight at Diogo Costa for the AfricansIt was no surprise when Morocco did forge ahead shortly before the intervalPortuguese goalkeeper Costa came for a cross from leftback Yahya AttiatAllah he was never going to get to and Sevilla striker EnNesyri did the rest with a towering headerPortugal almost equalised seconds later in spectacular fashion when Bruno Fernandes crashed a bouncing ball from the righthand side of the box against the crossbarA crazy few minutes before halftime also saw AttiatAllah only playing in place of the injured Noussair Mazraoui blaze wide after another rapid counterMorocco almost doubled their advantage four minutes after the restart as Costa just about managed to prevent Hakim Ziyechs freekick from the right from flying all the way inSantos wasted little time in summoning for his captain sending on Ronaldo and Joao Cancelo in the 51st minuteMorocco already without injured defenders Mazraoui and Nayef Aguerd were dealt another blow when Saiss was stretchered offPortugal started to lay siege to the opposition goal and Fernandes came close to levelling again when he fired narrowly over from the edge of the boxMorocco were largely keeping Portugal at bay but Bounou had to be at his best to tip over Felixs drive with eight minutes remainingEight minutes of injury time were largely spent with Portugal camped in the Morocco half and Ronaldo almost had his moment when his low strike was kept out by BounouMorocco substitute Walid Cheddira was harshly sent off for a second yellow card in the space of two minutesZakaria Aboukhlal should have put the game to bed only to dink straight at Costa when clean throughBut his team somehow held onto their lead to write their names in the history books as Pepe headed wide from close range right at the deathThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever