SANTIAGO, Chile: Third goalkeeper Abdelhakim El Mesbahi came off the bench near the end of extra time and made the decisive save in the shootout as Morocco edged France 5-4 on penalties Wednesday to qualify for their first Under-20 World Cup final.
The Moroccans will play for the championship against Argentina, who edged Colombia 1-0 to reach their eighth final at the under-20 tournament.
French goalkeeper Lisandru Olmeta’s own goal in the 32nd minute gave Morocco the lead before midfielder Lucas Michal equalized in the 59th.
It was tied 1-1 in regulation and near the end of extra time, when Morocco’s coach Mohamed Ouahbi sent in El Mesbahi for the shootout.
El Mesbahi had headshots of France’s players printed on his water bottle and a small graphic of where they might direct their penalty kicks.
The strategy worked because El Mesbahi, who hadn’t played in any of Morocco’s previous matches at the tournament, stopped France´s last shot from Djylian Nguessan.
“We managed to stay focused, calm and wait for our moments,” Ouahbi said. “Now we’re enjoying it, we’re in the final. I’m quite emotional because it’s a historic moment, but we want to win the final. We’re going to calm down quickly because what we want is to win the cup.”
Morocco’s starting goalkeeper Yanis Benchaouch was injured during regulation time and replaced by Ibrahim Gomis in the 64th minute. Gomis made way for El Mesbahi at the end of overtime.
Morocco topped their group, beating Spain and Brazil in the process, and then beat South Korea and the US to reach the semifinals.
The African nation’s best previous performance in the tournament was fourth place in 2005.
Argentina edge Colombia
In the later semifinal match, Mateo Silvetti scored in the 72nd minute for Argentina, who have won all of their matches in Chile and are aiming for a seventh Under-20 world title.
The Argentina squad is dominating in Chile despite missing Bayer Leverkusen’s Claudio Echeverri and Real Madrid’s Franco Mastantuono, two of the country’s best under-20s players.
