Youssef En-Nesyri's towering header late in the first half gave first-time quarter-finalists Morocco 1-0 victory over Portugal on Saturday.
En-Nesyri, who had twice headed over the crossbar earlier, leapt higher than both Portugal goalkeeper Diogo Costa and defender Ruben Dias to put Morocco ahead in the 42nd minute.
Portugal forward Joao Felix came close to opening the scoring on two occasions, forcing Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou into an early save before his strike in the 31st minute took a deflection and narrowly missed the target.
The winner of the match will face either France or England, who play later on Saturday night, in the semi-final.
Portugal again left captain Cristiano Ronaldo out of their starting line-up, keeping hat-trick hero Goncalo Ramos in the team for Saturday's World Cup quarter-final against Morocco.
Portugal's all-time leading goal scorer with 118 goals in 195 appearances, Ronaldo was benched for Tuesday's 6-1 win over Switzerland in the last 16 where the 21-year-old Ramos scored three in only his fourth appearance, reports Reuters.
Ronaldo, 37, was upset at being left out by coach Fernando Santos on the eve of the game, and Portugal's football federation then had to deny reports that their skipper had threatened to leave the tournament.
Santos made one change on Saturday after that convincing win, with Ruben Neves in for William Carvalho, while his Morocco counterpart Walid Regragui was forced to shuffle his defence after Nayef Aguerd and Noussair Mazraoui were ruled out by injury.
The absence of both is a major blow, with Yahia Attiat Allah in at left back for Mazraoui and Jawad El Yamiq replacing Aguerd.
There had also been concern over the fitness of captain Romain Saiss and midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, but both will play.
Teams:
Morocco: Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Romain Saiss, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahya Attiat-Allah, Sofyan Amrabat, Selim Amallah, Azzedine Ounahi, Hakim Ziyech, Soufiane Boufal, Youssef En-Nesyri
Portugal: Diogo Costa, Diogo Dalot, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro, Bruno Fernandes, Otavio, Bernardo Silva, Ruben Neves, Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos
8:30 PM, It’s not all about Cristiano Ronaldo, is it?
Belgium, Canada, Spain. Will Portugal be the next to be mauled over by the Atlas Lions? That was the first question Morocco coach Walid Regragui was asked on Friday, the eve of their quarter-final clash.
Morocco have been the story of the tournament so far making it to the last-eight stage surprising a few big names en route.
Morocco want to make World Cup history on Saturday when they meet Portugal in the quarter-finals, saying they are not satisfied despite breaking new ground for Arab football and equalling the best achievement by an African team.
The North Africans’ coach, Walid Regragui, said they would start as underdogs against Portugal but had proved they were genuine challengers in Qatar and were hungry for more success.
12:30 AM, Match-ups many, key is Kylian Mbappe
Didier Deschamps was 13 years old and Gareth Southgate two years younger when France last met England in a World Cup match. That was in 1982 in a group game in Bilbao where Bryan Robson famously scored within 30 seconds, the fastest goal for a long time, in England’s 3-1 victory.
It’s surprising that these two traditional rivals haven’t played each other in a World Cup match since then despite the absences of one or the other from the 1990 and 1994 tournaments.
