Monterrey has become an amazing destination for Morocco. For the first time in its history, it reached the 1/8 finals of the World Championship. Their last best result was in 1986, when they made it past the group stage of that tournament. Football requires a lot of turning.
Morocco and the Netherlands decided to add drama to Monday evening and took the match to penalties. The Moroccans won 3-2 at Monterrey Stadium. Penalty shootouts are a bane for the Dutch, as their last three World Cup exits have happened that way.
The case is solved, Morocco has broken through, which is a reward for the moral strength of the team, according to coach Mohamed Ouahbi.
“We have a strong team mentally and I think we will go very far.”
Ouahbi added that his players were encouraged by the support of the Moroccans, both at the stadium and at home.
“This team, like all youth teams in Morocco, fight for much more than just the fact of playing football or winning a match. They know they have the support of millions and millions of people. We played in Morocco when it was two o’clock in the morning and we are sure that most people were awake. It gives you the energy you need to not give up, keep going and believe in yourself,” he added.
The coach who guided Morocco’s U-20 national team to success before taking over from Walid Regragui is confident his team can beat Canada in the round of 16 in Houston.
“No one can stop us if we play the football we know how to play. But no one is invincible. If we do something wrong, we go home.”
The Mexican fans in the stands of the Monterrey Stadium did not forget and reminded the Netherlands a little karma: “it was not a penalty” – this phrase became a trend in 2014, when A Clockwork Orange eliminated El Tri in the 1/8 finals of the World Cup in Brazil due to a foul simulated by Arjen Robben.