Ismael Saibari scored in the fifth round of a penalty shootout and Morocco remained alive at the World Cup following a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands in the round of 32 on Monday at Guadalupe, Mexico.
Saibari’s kick into the left side of the goal gave Morocco a 3-2 victory in the shootout and set up a round of 16 match against Canada on Saturday at Houston.
Morocco trailed 1-0 and was minutes from elimination before 6-foot-4 defender Issa Diop scored on a header off a long cross from Chemsdine Talbi just seconds after the clock reached the 90-minute mark. Diop tallied his first international goal after switching his allegiance to Morocco from France earlier this year.
Yassine Bounou made one save for Morocco over the 120 minutes of regulation time. However, his biggest stop of the night came in the fifth round of the shootout when he used his left hand to stop a shot toward the top of the goal from Crysencio Summerville.
Soufiane Rahimi and Talbi also scored for Morocco in the penalty shootout. Justin Kluivert, Quinten Timber and Summerville all missed from the spot for the Netherlands.
The Dutch had reached the round of 16 each of the previous 11 times they competed at the World Cup.
Cody Gakpo scored from near the penalty spot in the 72nd minute to give the Netherlands a late lead. Bart Verbruggen had four saves for the Dutch in regulation but guessed wrong and dived to his left on Saibari’s decisive shot.
Morocco took 11 shots in the 120 minutes, while the Netherlands had six. The African side had a 5-2 edge in attempts on target.
In a duel of two top-10 teams in the FIFA world rankings, the seventh-ranked Netherlands finally broke through when Gakpo scored off a spinning pass from Summerville while on the turf.
Gakpo went to his knees and buried his head into the ground in a solemn celebration just days after announcing that he and his partner lost their unborn child.
Sixth-ranked Morocco advanced after they were the runner-up in Group C. They advanced to the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The Netherlands were eliminated after they were the winner of Group F.
–Field Level Media
