Luis Enrique’s confidant Spain faced unbeaten Walid Regragui’s Morocco in the round of 16 FIFA World Cup 2022 at the Education City Stadium on Tuesday (December 6). Morocco made another heroic turnaround, keeping the heavyweights at bay and ultimately winning the game 3-0 on penalties after the score remained goalless at the end of extra time.
Spain, as expected, dominated possession in the first exchanges, enjoying 81% of the ball in the first 10 minutes. Morocco, despite not seeing the ball enough, carried more thread, piercing the Spanish flanks with their fast wingers.
At minute 12, Sofiane Boufal he was brought down from a shooting position outside the box. Achraf Hakimi he took the resulting free kick but was unable to keep his shot on target. fifteen minutes later, Jordi Alba Marcos Asensio overcame the Moroccan defense with an impeccable through ball. With only Yassine Bounou to beat, the real Madrid man found the left side netting of the goal.
In the 33rd minute, Noussair Mazraoui stripped Ferran Torres near the Spanish goal. The left back plucked up his courage and went on goal with a piledriver shot. Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon initially spilled the shot but eventually recovered to collect it.
Ten minutes later, a sweeping play from Morocco saw Boufal send a taunting cross into the box for Naif Aguerd. The West Ham United defender received the shot at the far post but was unable to keep his shot on target.
In the 81st minute, substitute Nico Williams played a cheeky pass to his fellow substitute. alvaro morata down the right side. The striker opened up a bit of space, but the angle was too tight to test Bounou.
In the last minute of discount, Spain earned a foul in a dangerous zone. dani olmo He finished off a dangerous cross into the area, but neither Rodri nor Aymeric Laporte managed to give the revealing touch. With the level of play at 0-0, the match slipped into extra time.
Two minutes before the end of the first period of extra time, Azzedine Ounahi placed substitute Walid Cheddira in the goal. He tried to slide the ball between Simon’s legs, but saw his effort saved by the goalkeeper’s strong right leg.
With the score unchanged, the 2022 FIFA World Cup Round of 16 clash between Spain and Morocco went to penalties. Bounou emerged as the savior of Morocco, saving penalties from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets, while Sarabia finished off the post with his first goal. Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech and Hakimi (winning penalty kick) scored their kicks to lead the Atlas Lions to their first FIFA World Cup quarter-final.
Here are five Spanish players who were particularly disappointing in their embarrassing World Cup elimination on Tuesday:
#5 Marcos Llorente
Spain coach Luis Enrique gave Marcos Llorente his first start at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Deployed on the right wing, Llorente came face to face with Boufal. The battle turned out to be quite one-sided, as the Moroccan turned him inside out time and time again over the course of the game.
Playing 120 minutes of soccer, Llorente was dribbled an astonishing four times, missing both of his cross attempts and losing all six of his duels. He too lost possession 13 times, fouled and failed to create scoring chances.
#4 Marco Asensio
Real Madrid striker Marco Asensio remained on the sidelines in the 2022 FIFA World Cup round of 16 clash against Morocco. The Africans marked him hard and prevented him from playing small one-twos with his teammates, leaving him completely ineffective. He also disappointingly hit the side netting as Alba slipped in on goal in the 27th minute.
Before being hooked by Álvaro Morata in the 63rd minute, Asensio played only 10 accurate passes (71.4% accuracy), he missed his only cross attempt and lost possession 10 times.
#3 Sergio Busquets
Spain captain Sergio Busquets had a game to forget against Morocco. His pass was accurate, but it did not pose a threat to the Moroccan defense. Busquets was interrupted several times and did not have the pace to keep up with the opposing midfielders.
Sergio Busquets:🗣️”We deserved to win tonight and qualify for the quarterfinals”. https://t.co/zzpcuNvoem
To top it off, the veteran Barcelona player dispatched a very tame penalty in the shootout, which Bounou saved by diving to his right.
Busquets did not play any key passes, lost two long balls, lost two of three aerial duels and gave up possession 11 times on Tuesday.
#2 Gavi
Barcelona’s wunderkind Gavi made history on Tuesday, becoming the youngest player to play in a FIFA World Cup knockout match since Pelé in 1958. Unfortunately, he was unable to mark the monumental occasion with a memorable performance. . He struggled to get involved, didn’t create any scoring chances and lost possession several times over the course of the match.
Gavi, 18, will become the youngest player to start a knockout match in the men’s World Cup since Pelé in 1958 👶 https://t.co/DTeSvgSJYz
On Tuesday night, Gavi completed just 17 passes (85% accuracy), lost seven of 12 games, lost possession seven times and committed four fouls. He too was dribbled once and missed a cross before understandably being taken off in the 63rd minute.
#1 Ferran Torres
Ferran Torres intervened this Tuesday on the right side of the Spanish first line. The Barcelona forward proved embarrassingly inadequate on that flank, being outplayed time and time again by the bubbly Mazraoui.
Reminder that we sold Ferran Torres for 55 million pounds and bought Erling Haaland for 51 million pounds. https://t.co/Pe1S70gt3A
Playing 75 minutes of soccer at Education City Stadium, Torres couldn’t get off a single shot, let alone test Bounou. The former Manchester City player failed to make any key passes, missed three of four dribbles and missed all four cross attempts. In addition, he lost eight of 10 running games, lost possession a staggering 18 times and was caught offside twice.
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