With a 1-0 victory over Portugal on Saturday at Al Thumama Stadium, the Atlas Lions maintained their legendary run in Qatar, becoming the first African team to ever advance to the World Cup semifinals.

In the round of 16, Walid Regragui's team defeated Spain on penalties, but this was even more noteworthy and amazing since it guaranteed that Morocco would proceed where no other African country had gone before.

Just before halftime, Youssef En-Nesyri had the honor of scoring what will be remembered as one of the most significant goals in the annals of African football.

With Cristiano Ronaldo once more on the bench, Portugal applied significant pressure for a significant portion of the second half, but their efforts fell short, much to the joy of the Moroccan-dominated crowd. Unsurprisingly, Fernando Santos' team had early control, but there were no open opportunities.

Encouraged, Morocco appeared threatening on the break, and the game picked up around the halfway point when Sofiane Boufal, who was in high spirits, sent a 25-yard attempt at Diogo Costa and Selim Amallah blasted over from Romain Saiss' cut-back.

Since En-Nesyri towered over Costa to head in Yahya Attiat-cross Allah's after 42 minutes, the Atlas Lions were deserving of the lead.

PORTUGAL WAITED FOR AN ANSWER.

After Bruno Fernandes' dipping right-wing shot hit the crossbar, he was not awarded a penalty for some minutes. Before Azzedine Ounahi blew a good opportunity, Ronaldo entered the game, essentially establishing Portugal's total dominance.

Portugal didn't contribute much until critical late stops from Joao Felix and Ronaldo by Yassine Bounou, and Morocco fought courageously to secure yet another historic victory despite replacement Walid Cheddira's departure for a second card in stoppage time.

For obvious reasons, En-Nesyri will make headlines, but Ounahi truly merits praise. It was fun to observe the little guy. He generally did a great job handling the ball, finishing all three of his dribble attempts, and just one of his teammates could top his two important passes. The 22-year-old performed in a really mature manner.

RAMOS TURNS INTO A ZERO FROM A HERO.

Benfica forward Ramos, who replaced Ronaldo in the devastating win over Switzerland, struggled to make an impact against the defense of Morocco.

He mustered just one goal-scoring attempt, an off-target header, and produced none for his teammates.

SrTATISTICS

- Portugal, who advanced from their two previous matches at this point, was eliminated from a World Cup quarterfinal for the first time in their history (5-3 v North Korea in 1966 and on penalties v England in 2006).

- Morocco has achieved four clean sheets at this World Cup, one more than its previous best of 15 from 1970 to 2018.

- Bounou, who was making his 50th appearance for Morocco, made history by recording his first three clean sheets as an African goalkeeper.

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Deye Muel

Psychologist and Blogger.

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