GUADALUPE, Mexico (AP) — Ismael Saibary scored the decisive goal in a penalty shootout and Morocco sent the Netherlands to their earliest exit from the World Cup, eliminating the Dutch 3-2 after a 1-1 draw on Monday night.
With the shootout tied at 2-all after four rounds, Moroccan goalkeeper Yacine Bounou made a strong save from Crisencio Summerville’s shot, deflecting it with his left hand. Saibari then sent the winner into the bottom left corner as goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen went the other way. The midfielder tore off his shirt and screamed with joy as he was surrounded by a crowd of teammates.
The Netherlands have reached at least the round of 16 at 11 previous World Cups, including reaching the quarter-finals four years ago in Qatar when Morocco made a breakthrough to the semi-finals. This year’s expanded tournament saw 32 teams advance to the knockout stage for the first time.
Morocco will face Canada in the round of 16 on Saturday in Houston.
In the second round of the penalty shootout, with Morocco trailing 1-0, Verbruggen appeared to save Soufiane Rahimi’s attempt, but the goalkeeper was unable to keep the ball and deflected it over the line with the back of his foot.
Cody Gakpo scored in the 72nd minute for the Netherlands. After the goal, assisted by Summerville, the Dutch bench ran onto the field to hug 27-year-old Gakpo, who burst into tears. Gakpo and his partner Noah van der Bij recently announced that they had lost their unborn child.
Morocco’s Issa Diop equalized in the 91st minute. Chemsdin Talbi looped a cross into the box from around 28 yards from the left flank and connected with Diop for a clean header that Verbruggen had no way to stop.
Neither team had a serious chance to score in the 30 minutes of extra time at the BBVA Stadium.
This was the second game of the tournament to end in a penalty shootout. Earlier on Monday, Paraguay beat Germany on penalties.
The teams entered with the highest combined rating of all round of 16 matches. Morocco was sixth in the world and the Netherlands was seventh.