DOHA: Morocco’s 1-0 victory over Portugal on Saturday made them the first African team to reach the last four of a World Cup.
Three African teams had fallen in the quarter-final stage before Walid Regragui’s side finally ended the continent’s long wait for a semifinal spot.
Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 had all made strong runs in the tournament but were unable to go beyond the last eight.
The first African team to reach the quarters were Cameroon in Italia ‘90 where the ‘Indomitable Lions’, having beaten Colombia in the last 16, came up against Bobby Robson’s England.
David Platt put England ahead in the 25th minute but the introduction of the 38-year-old Roger Milla at the break sparked a turnaround.
Milla won a penalty which Emmanuel Kunde converted in the 61st minute and then four minutes later set Eugene Ekeke to put the African side ahead.
But Gary Lineker’s 83rd minute penalty took the game into extra-time and the England poacher struck again in the 105th minute to end Cameroon’s dream.
Despite the defeat Cameroon took a deserved lap of honor at the San Paolo stadium in Naples having won many hearts and much respect with their performances which began with a 1-0 win over Argentina in their opening group game.
Senegal’s run to the last eight in South Korea and Japan was all the more impressive given it was their first appearance in a World Cup tournament.
The Lions made a grand entry beating the defending champion and favorite France 1-0 in the opening match.
That shock victory was followed up draws with Denmark (1-1) and Uruguay (3-3) to set up a round of 16 clash with Sweden which was won 2-1 thanks to two goals from Henri Camara, the second the match-winning ‘golden goal’ in extra-time.
Turkiye were the opponents in the last eight but this time the golden goal rule proved to be the undoing of the Africans — after the game ended goalless in 90 minutes, Ilhan Mansiz struck four minutes into extra-time to send the Turks through.
That was the last ‘golden goal’ scored in a men’s international tournament, with FIFA returning to normal extra-time for the 2006 edition.
Until Saturday’s Moroccan success, the nearest an African team had been to the last four was in 2010 when Ghana were a last-second penalty away from the semifinals.
The game finished 1-1 after normal time with Sulley Muntari canceling out Diego Forlan’s opener.
In the final moments of extra-time Uruguay forward Luis Suarez prevented a certain goal with a deliberate handball on the goalline to deny Ghana a winner.
Suarez was sent off but Asamoah Gyan smashed the resulting spot kick against the bar and Uruguay then won the penalty shoot-out.
Morocco make it fourth time lucky for Africa at World Cup
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Morocco make it fourth time lucky for Africa at World Cup
- Three African teams had fallen in the quarter-final stage
- The first African team to reach the quarters were Cameroon in Italia ‘90
Alcaraz powers into Indian Wells quarter-finals
- Alcaraz will next face 2021 champion Cameron Norrie, who earlier beat Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-4 6-2
World number one Carlos Alcaraz continued his dominant run at Indian Wells, beating Norway’s Casper Ruud 6-1 7-6(2) on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals in the California desert.
The Spaniard relied on a near-flawless service game to seize control of the match, racing through the opening set in just 37 minutes after breaking Ruud’s serve three times.
Thirteenth-seeded Ruud raised his level in the second set and forced a tiebreak, hoping to push the match to a decider, but Alcaraz kept his foot on the gas to seal his 15th consecutive victory of the season to reach the quarter-finals for a fifth straight year.
“The conditions were difficult to be honest. Today the ball was tough to control but we both played great,” two-time champion Alcaraz said in his on-court interview.
“My first set was incredible I’m really happy of playing that kind of level, really happy to get through and hopefully I’ll play this level on the next round.”
Alcaraz will next face 2021 champion Cameron Norrie, who earlier beat Australia’s Rinky Hijikata 6-4 6-2, with the Spaniard looking to avenge a defeat to the Briton at last year’s Paris Masters.
SWIATEK, PEGULA THROUGH
World number two Iga Swiatek delivered a dominant 6-2 6-0 victory over Czech 13th seed Karolina Muchova, reeling off 10 consecutive games to secure her fifth win over the Czech, whom she also beat at the same stage of the tournament last year.
“I felt I was playing better and better, just great,” Swiatek said.
“I love playing here ... It’s a great place to play tennis, hopefully I can keep doing that until the end.”
Swiatek, chasing a third Indian Wells title, will face ninth seed Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals after the Ukrainian advanced when Katerina Siniakova retired injured.
American fifth seed Jessica Pegula overcame Belinda Bencic 6-3 7-6(5) to secure her first victory in five meetings between the pair.
Pegula, coming off a dramatic comeback win over Jelena Ostapenko, took control as she clinched the opening set — her first ever against the Swiss — before edging a tightly contested tiebreak to close out the match.
Russian 11th seed Daniil Medvedev beat Alex Michelsen 6-2 6-4 in a commanding performance, needing just one hour and 27 minutes to dismantle the American and maintain his strong form after winning last month’s Dubai Open.
