Morocco advanced to the Round of 16 in the FIFA World Cup by defeating the Netherlands in a tense penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw at Estadio BBVA.
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring for the Dutch in the 72nd minute, but Issa Diop equalized for Morocco in stoppage time.Re-watch the tension and drama of the penalty shootout that sent Morocco through to the next stage:
Penalty Shootout Netherlands 🇳🇱 2-3 Morocco 🇲🇦
Morocco win it on penalties.
Both nations missed one of their opening two penalties, converted their third attempts, and then missed their fourth, leaving the shootout level and heading into sudden death.
The decisive moment came when Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou produced a crucial save to deny Crysencio Summerville. Moments later, Ismael Saibari calmly stepped up and converted Morocco’s next penalty to seal a dramatic 3-2 shootout victory.
Netherlands: 2 ✅ ❌ ✅ ❌ ❌
Morocco: 3 ❌ ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅
The victory sends the Atlas Lions into the Round of 16, where they will face Canada as they continue their impressive FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign.
Richard Achore is a versatile Ghanaian sports journalist, media administrator, and officer with the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the Founder of the online sports portal Ghsportsnews.com and Ghana Talk News