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The Atlas Lions of Morocco became the only African side to progress to the Quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup following a remarkable win against Spain on penalties.
Six countries have so far qualified for the Quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
The Netherlands defeated USA 3-1 to book their place in the Quarter Finals against Argentina who overcame Australia 2-1 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, defending champions France crushed Poland 3-1 on Sunday and will now face the Three Lions of England in the Quarter Finals after the latter defeated the Teranga Lions of Senegal 3-0.
Japan were knocked out by Croatia after holding the 2018 finalists to a 1-1 draw after extra-time before losing 4-1 on penalties. While Brazil crushed South Korea 4-1 to book a place in the Quarterfinals against Croatia.
The opening stages started as both sides jostled for possession, with Spain boasting the lion's share of the ball in the opening 10 minutes.
Morocco had a chance to open the scoring in the 11th minute after Sofiane Boufal was fouled just outside Spain's box. However, the resulting freekick from Achraf Hakimi went just over the crossbar.
However, in the 24th minute, Morocco were almost made to pay after an error that allowed Gavi to whip a shot at goal. The Barcelona midfielder saw his effort saved by Bono before Ferran Torres' strike was struck against the crossbar, but the Spanish forward was already adjudged to have been offside.
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Morocco came close to opening the scoring again in the 32nd minute after Noussair Mazraoui unleashed a shot from distance, but his effort was straight at Unai Simon.
Spain continued to dominate possession but had a tough time breaking through Morocco's defense after 40 minutes played.
In the 42nd minute, Morocco were presented with another chance after Nayef Aguerd's header from Sofiane Boufal's cross from the edge of the box was headed over.
Regardless of Spain's dominance in possession, Morocco ended the opening 45 minutes strongly as both sides went into the break with the score deadlocked.
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Second Half
The second half resumed and both teams continued from where they left off in the first period, creating chances for themselves in what was an end-to-end football in the opening five minutes of the restart.
Spain had a chance to open the scoring in the 54th minute after a venomous freekick from Dani Olmo from the edge of the box was saved by Morocco goalkeeper Bono.
In the 63rd minute, Spain looked to shape things up as Luis Enrique opted to bring in some fresh legs in attack with Alvaro Morata replacing Marco Asensio while Gavi was replaced by Carlos Soler.
Two minutes later, Morocco made first change of the match as Abde Ezzazouli came on as a replacement for Sofiane Boufal.
In the 76th minute, Spain once more decided to make a change with Nico Williams coming on for Ferran Torres as Luis Enrique sought to go all-out attack in search of the opener against a very stubborn Moroccan defense.
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Nico Williams immediately got into the action and created a dangerous chance in the 79th minute whipping a dangerous cross into the box, which was eventually cleared by Morocco's defense as the La Furia Roja continued to threaten.
Spain came close to opening the scoring soon after, when Alvaro Morata's effort whiskered just wide of the post in the 81st minute.
A minute later, Morocco opted for four subsequent changes with Youssef En Nesyri being replaced by Abdelhamid Sabiri, Selim Amallah coming off for Walid Regragui, Yahya Attiat-Allal replacing Noussair Mazraoui and Jawad El Yamiq replacing Nayef Aguerd.
In the 88th minute, Spain came close once more after Alvaro Morata saw his effort blocked after a dashing run into the box.
In the 90th minute, Spain came close once more after a header from Alvaro Morata was headed well over the bar.
However, with one minute to go until stoppage time in added time, Spain had a chance to capitalize from a free kick from outside the box with Bono forced into making a crucial save.
And after 90 minutes plus added time, it finished Morocco 0 Spain 0 as the game forced each other into extra-time.
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Extra Time
Morocco saw the best chance of the opening half of extra time after Walid Cheddira was played through on goal, but failed to apply the needed finish as the flag was raised for offside.
In the 98th minute, Luis Enrique opted to make two more changes as Ansu Fati replaced Dani Olmo while Alejandro Balde replaced Jordi Alba.
In the 103rd minute, Walid Cheddira wasted a golden opportunity to finally open the scoring for Morocco after his effort was fired straight at Unai Simon in the box in what was a huge let-off was the Atlas Lions.
It was still scoreless at the break in extra time as both sides got ready for the final 15 minutes to get the crucial winner.
The second period resumed with all to play for and the Moroccans continued to impress defensively with the match looking more likely to end in penalties as the full-time in extra time drew near.
With five minutes to go, Spain continued to their quest to breakdown the Moroccan defense while the Atlas Lions broke on a few chances on the counter but failed to be clinical in the final third.
Luis Enrique made his final substitution in the 118th minute as Pablo Sarabia replaced Marcos Llorente.
Meanwhile, Morocco themselves made their final substitution of the match with three minutes to go until stoppage time in extra time as Azzedine Ounahi was replaced by Badr Benoun.
Spain were inches away from scoring the winner in stoppage time in extra time as Pablo Sarabia's effort flashed just wide of the left post in what was the final action of extra-time as it finished 0-0 between both sides with only penalties left to settle the thrilling contest.
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Penalties
Morocco began the battle of the spot-kicks as Abdelhamid Sabiri slotted past Unai Simon, before Pablo Sarabia missed for Spain.
Next up was Morocco's Hakim Ziyech who scored his spot-kick before Spain suffered another setback with Carlos Soler missing Spain's second penalty once more.
However, Badr Benoun (Morocco) saw his spot-kick saved by Unai Simon, before Sergio Busquets missed again for Spain and it was down to Achraf Hakimi to seal the win for Morocco with the PSG superstar making no mistake against Unai Simon as it finished 3-0 on penalties to send the Atlas Lions to the Quarterfinals of the World Cup where they would face either Portugal or Switzerland.
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