The Moroccan football squad is clearly a fan of Nigerian musician Burna Boy, as evidenced by a video of them singing along to his international hit song, “Last Last,” which went viral online.
The Atlas Lions of Morocco were seen in the video after they knocked out Spain 3 to 0 on penalties after their round of 16 match went goalless following 120 minutes of play on December 12. “Last Last” by Burna Boy was played while the African football team celebrated their victory.
Burna Boy’s heartbreak song “Last Last” recently received the UK Platinum Certification from the Brits after selling over 600,000 copies in the UK.
Morocco vs Portugal summary: En Nesyri goal, score, goals, highlights | Qatar World Cup 2022
En Nesyri scored in the 42nd minute to win it for Morocco. Ronaldo came on in the second half. Morocco play England or France.
Qatar 2022 World Cup quarter-final: Morocco vs Portugal
MOROCCO 1-0 PORTGUAL: Full-time!
THEY’VE DONE IT!
Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls. You are witnessing HISTORY!
The first African nation to ever reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. The first Arab nation to ever reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Belgium, Spain, Portugal…maybe further down the line it will be England or France.
Nobody can begrudge Morocco a place in the final four. As we expected, Portugal dominated possession in the early stages of the first half and Morocco were prepared to pick their moment to hit them on the counter-attack. As the first half progressed, they opened up and created the best chances of the half, with Youssef En-Nesyri missing two good chances before opening the scoring just before half-time after a goalkeeping mistake from Diogo Costa.
The second half was an exercise of defence against attack, for the large majority. They were put under the cosh by Portugal at different periods but defended for their lives, gave up few opportunities and carried a threat on the counter-attack. The Portuguese struggled to open the up and Morocco had chances to finish the game off on the break, which they didn’t take. That set up a tense finale but they pulled through thanks to Bono’s superb save from Félix and Pepe’s miss right at the death.
This is just the third time that Portugal have reached the quarter-final stage but they’ll feel they’ve missed an opportunity to go further, given that they had what was perceived as a ‘favourable’ draw. Surely Cristiano Ronaldo, who’ll be 41 by the time the 2026 World Cup comes around, will never have another chance to add the World Cup trophy to his collection of honours.
En-Nesyri wins it for Morocco
Diogo Costa didn’t cover himself in glory but Youssef En-Nesyri won’t care about that. It was a tremendous leap by the big striker (would it be cheeky to reminiscent of Cristiano Ronaldo?) and his goal will forever be remembered in Casablanca, Marrakesh, Rabat and beyond.
But what if this isn’t the end of the story for Morocco? It could just be the beginning.
England or Francebeware. Spain, Belgium and Portugal have already suffered at their hands.
Bruno Fernandes: I don’t know if they’re going to give the cup to Argentina
Wow. There is not a lot of love from the Portuguese for the match officials or indeed Argentina.
Bruno Fernandes next:
“I don’t know if they’re going to give the cup to Argentina. I don’t care, I’m going to say what I think and screw them It’s very strange that a referee from a team that whistles us it’s still in the Cup. They’ve clearly tilted the field against us.”
Ruben Dias: It looked a clear penalty to us
Pepe’s fellow defender Ruben Dias has also been voicing his unhappiness with the refereeing performance, although specifically related to one moment in the game. Early in the second half, Otavio and Achraf Hakimi clashed in the box and Portugal felt as if they should’ve been awarded a spot-kick.
“The penalty? It looked clear to us. And it defined the game. If we’d equalised at that point, it would’ve been like starting the game all over again.”
‘SCENES!’ in Casablanca
And who can blame them? This could be a once-a-lifetime experience for Morocco and their fans (of course, it might not be).
Drink it in!
Pepe: It’s unacceptable that we had an Argentinian referee
First it was Lionel Messi last night and now it’s Pepe complaining about the performance of the match official:
“We conceded a goal that we didn’t see coming. But what I’ve got to say might come as a bit of a shock but I’m going to have to say it anyway. It’s unacceptable that an Argentinian referee was taking charge of our game. After what happened yesterday, with Messi. They should just give Argentina the title.”
“After what everyone’s saying in Argentina, we have an Argentinian referee. I’m not saying that he was biased towards them but what was that all about in the second half? Their goalkeeper spent most of it on the ground. They only added on eight minutes. Is that referee for real? Eight minutes?”
Fernando Santos on possible resignation and Cristiano Ronaldo
Portugal head coach Fernando Santos has been speaking after the match and if I asked you go guess which two questions he’d been asked, you’d be able to do it easily:
On whether he’ll resign: “I had a discussion with the president and when we go back to Portugal with serenity and calm, we will deal with the contract situation.”
On whether he should’ve started Cristiano Ronaldo: “No I don’t think so. No regrets. I think this was a team that played very well. He is a very good player. He came on when it was necessary so no regrets.”