Morocco Beats Netherlands in the Round of 32

On June 29, the Netherlands played Morocco in an intense knockout round game that dragged on to penalty shootouts during which Morocco beat the Netherlands with 3 successful shots to 2. As a result of this win, Morocco will advance to the round of 16.

The Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo scored the first goal in the 72nd minute, and Morocco’s Issa Diop tied the game in the last few minutes. After no goals in extra time for either side, the game advanced to a penalty shootout, where Morocco finally won.

The Dutch goalie Bart Verbruggen made two amazing saves in regulation time. He saved a Moroccan corner and a clean shot just by pure reflex. However, during the shootout, he unluckily scored an own goal after he made the initial save by accidentally kicking in the ball.

The chaotic penalties set a record for 4 shots that were off target, with three shots hitting the post and one veering wide. In addition, one was saved, so only 5 out of 10 shots found the back of the net. Historically the Netherlands haven’t done well in penalty shootouts. They lost 3 out of 4 penalty shootouts in previous World Cups, only winning one penalty shootout against Costa Rica in 2014.

This is a heart-breaking loss for the Netherlands. Before the game, the Netherlands was priced as the betting favorite, and the Dutch held a 59% probability of advancing, while Morocco had a 41% chance. After the loss, the Netherlands’ coach Ronald Koeman resigned from the team, saying “We all dreamed of a World Cup where we could make history. That didn’t happen. No one is more disappointed about that than I am.”

After Morocco’s exciting victory, Mohamed Ouahbi, Morocco’s coach, showed positivity about the next few games and said, “Nobody can stop us if we play the football we know how to play, but nobody is unbeatable.”

Morocco will play Canada on July 4 at 10 A.M in the round of 16.