MOROCCO defeated the Netherlands 3-2 on penalties this morning to advance to the 2026 FIFA World Cup round of 16 .
The round of 32 clash ended 1-1 following extra-time before Morocco prevailed in the shootout to set up a meeting with co-hosts Canada.
Ismael Saibari converted the winning spot kick after Yassine Bounou saved Crysencio Summerville’s penalty, sending Morocco through after a dramatic contest in which they had forced extra-time with a stoppage-time equaliser.
Morocco’s Neil El Aynaoui and Dutch substitute Justin Kluivert missed their attempts before Bart Verbruggen appeared to save Soufiane Rahimi’s effort, only for the ball to squirm underneath him and trickle over the line.
Quinten Timber then put the ball wide with the Dutch side’s fourth kick, Achraf Hakimi struck the post with the chance to seal victory before Saibari kept his nerve to send Morocco through.
The shootout capped a tense encounter in Monterrey that swung repeatedly in both teams’ favour, with Cody Gakpo’s emotional second-half opener cancelled out by Issa Diop’s stoppage-time header before neither team could find a winner in extra-time.
Thousands of Morocco supporters erupted at the final whistle in the last World Cup match to be played in Monterrey, Mexico while many local fans celebrated with them after backing the African side throughout the match.
Morocco created the better chances before the break, with goalkeeper Verbruggen producing a series of outstanding saves to deny Ayoub Bouaddi’s close-range header and Neil El Aynaoui’s powerful effort.
At the other end, Bounou was finally called into action to parry Micky van de Ven’s long-range strike.
Hakimi hit the crossbar and forced another save from Verbruggen as the Dutch struggled to contain the full-back’s runs from deep before Ronald Koeman’s introduction of Wout Weghorst gave his side a much-needed focal point in attack.
The Atlas Lions enjoyed vocal backing throughout, with many Mexican supporters adopting Morocco for the night and reviving chants of “No era penal (It wasn’t a penalty)”, recalling the controversial penalty that helped the Netherlands eliminate Mexico at the 2014 World Cup.
With agency report
