Morocco booked their place in the World Cup Round of 16 after edging the Netherlands 4-3 on penalties following a dramatic 1-1 draw at Estadio BBVA on Monday.
Last edition’s semi-finalists held their nerve in the shootout, with Ismael Saibari converting the decisive spot-kick to send Morocco through and condemn the Dutch to their earliest-ever World Cup exit.
The penalty contest remained finely balanced until the fifth round when Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou produced a crucial save, diving to his left to deny Crysencio Summerville.
Saibari then stepped up and calmly slotted home the winning penalty as Dutch goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen guessed the wrong way.
The Netherlands appeared to be heading for victory after Cody Gakpo broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute.
The forward finished from a Summerville assist before being embraced by teammates and coaching staff in an emotional celebration. Gakpo recently revealed that he and his partner, Noa van der Bij, had lost their unborn child.
Morocco, however, refused to surrender and found a dramatic equaliser deep into stoppage time. Issa Diop rose highest in the 91st minute to head home a delivery from Chemsdine Talbi and force extra time.
The North Africans nearly completed the turnaround in the 97th minute when Soufiane Rahimi danced past defenders and found himself one-on-one with Verbruggen, but the Dutch goalkeeper produced an outstanding save to keep his side alive.
Despite that scare, neither team managed to create another clear-cut opportunity during the remainder of extra time, sending the contest to penalties.
Morocco eventually prevailed from the spot to continue their campaign, while Ronald Koeman’s side exited the tournament in disappointing fashion.
The match was only the second of the tournament to be decided by penalties after Paraguay eliminated Germany earlier on Monday.
Entering the contest, Morocco and the Netherlands were the two highest-ranked teams involved in the Round of 32, sitting sixth and seventh respectively in the FIFA rankings.
While the Dutch had reached at least the Round of 16 in each of their previous eight World Cup appearances, Morocco once again showed their knockout-stage resilience to advance.
