WORLD CUP NOTES: Montreal-born goalkeeper plays the hero for Morocco

AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou would have looked pretty good in a Canada jersey had things not worked out so well with Morocco.

Bounou, 31, was born in Montreal before his parents moved to Morocco and he went on to become its national team goalkeeper.

Bounou made two saves in a penalty shootout against Spain on Tuesday to backstop Morocco into the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, for the first time in its history.

Morocco won the penalty shootout 3-0 after a scoreless tie through 120 minutes of Spain passing the ball around.

Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech, and Achraf Hakimi scored for Morocco in the shootout, while Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and captain Sergio Busquets missed for Spain. Sarabia hit the goal post in the penalty shootout and on the last kick of the game in extra time.

“We felt the support of our fans be it in Morocco or here and that gave us the motivation to give such a performance,” Bounou said. “I want to thank all the players who helped us get over this enormous task. It was a great effort from everyone and I applaud them, and I of this gift of joy to all of our people.”

Bounou has conceded just one goal in the tournament so far, which was an own-goal in a 2-1 victory against Canada in the group stage. Atiba Hutchinson came close as well, as his header crashed down on to the back of the goal line from the underside of the cross bar late in that contest.

Bounou grew up in Casablanca and played through its youth system before being signed by Atletico Madrid in Spain. He is currently playing with Sevilla in Spain and has made 48 appearances for his country since 2013. He was named player of the game for his heroics in the penalty shootout.

Morocco is making its sixth appearance in the World Cup and had not advanced beyond the group stage since 1986. It is the only team outside of Europe and South American to make it to the last eight.

“When you’re in the thick of the moment, you don’t realize what you’ve just achieved,” Bounou said. “But we’re happy, and we need to keep focused on the task at hand. But we’re happy that things went our way. Maybe as time goes on, we’ll realize what we’ve achieved.”

Along with defeating Canada, Morocco also defeated Belgium earlier in the group stage. The celebrations for that victory at home were massive as they were for the win against Canada, which gave Morocco first place in Group F. They will play Portugal, who defeated Switzerland 6-1 later Tuesday evening.

“We followed the game plan from the start,” Bounou said. “I’m so happy for this win; the whole team played so well. They did a great job, all the players were so good.”

Morocco defended well and hit Spain on the counterattack on the few occasions it had the ball. Morocco was much braver than Spain in attack and had a number of chances to score through regulation and into extra time.

In the shootout, Bounou was fortunate to see Sarabia’s shot hit the goal post on Spain’s first attempt. He then dove to his left to stop Soler and then to his right to deny Busquets. The three misses were enough for Morocco as Hakimi scored the decisive penalty with a “Panenka,” softly chipping the ball into the net while Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon dove to his left.

“There is a little bit of feel and luck (stopping penalties),” Bounou said. “There is not much to say about penalties and how they are, it’s just one of those things.”

RONALDO NOT REQUIRED

Portugal head coach Fernando Santos showed who is the boss, benching star player Cristiano Ronaldo in the Round of 16 against Switzerland.

Portugal did not need him, going on to hammer Switzerland 6-1 in the contest, with Ronaldo starting the game on the bench and then coming on as a substitute.

The talented forward was not pleased with being substituted after 65 minutes in a 2-1 loss to South Korea in the final group game, which did not mean anything to Portugal, having already qualified for the next round.

Ronaldo was caught on camera disagreeing with the decision by Santos and then got into an argument with a South Korean player on his slow walk off the field.

After the game, Santos said Ronaldo was upset with the Korean player and not with him, but later saw the video, which suggested otherwise.

“Have I already watched the footage? Yes. I didn’t like it, didn’t like it at all. From there, those are things you sort out internally,” Santos said on Monday. “It was sorted out this way, and now we think about the game tomorrow. Everyone is focused on the game.”

Prior to the game Santos told the host broadcasters Ronaldo was going to start on the bench due to tactics and not disciplinary reasons. He reiterated the sentiment after the game.

“We intended to have a team that played with a lot of fluidity and I thought we played very well today,” Santos said. “It was a very, very good match in all aspects. We played with a lot of confidence, a lot of unity and that reflects in the match and the capacity to recover the ball, to overcome issues and hurdles and everything worked very well.”

Goncalo Ramos, who replaced Ronaldo in the lineup, went on to score three goals for Portugal in the win, while Pepe, Raphael Guerreiro and substitute Rafael Leao added the others.

Ronaldo did score after coming on as a substitute, but the goal was waved off on offside.

“I have a very close relationship with Ronaldo, I always have. I’ve known him since he was 19 years old in Sporting (Lisbon),” Santos said. “We’ve always had a strong relationship and then he started to develop in the national squad when I arrived in 2014. This relationship has developed.

“I think Ronaldo and I never misinterpreted the human aspect of the relationship with that of manager and player and that’s what we need to do during a match and that’s what we’ll continue to do. I will always consider my role that he is a very important player to the team.”

dvandiest@postmedia.com

Twitter @DerekVanDiest