Cristiano Ronaldo’s dream of winning a FIFA World Cup came to an end, perhaps permanently, on Saturday when Portugal fell to a stunning 1-0 defeat to Morocco. Morocco thus became the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup and they are yet to allow any opposition player to score against them in this year’s tournament.
It was a towering header from Youssef En-Nesyri late in the first half that ultimately provided the winning goal for Morocco. Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa’s split-second indecision was also to blame for the goal. The ball was sent into the box with a looping cross. Costa hesitated for a moment before coming off his line in an attempt to fist the ball away but that little delay in reaction was enough for him to lose the battle with En-Nesyri. The Sevilla striker rose well above Costa’s hands, beat him to the ball with his head and hammered into the net.
The way En-Nesyri jumped was quite similar to a number of famous headers that Ronaldo has scored for both club and country over the course of his illustrious career. The cameras later showed Ronaldo on the bench reacting to the goal.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos left Ronaldo on the bench for the second consecutive match in the tournament but brought him on early in the second half. Portugal hit Morocco with wave after wave of attacks throughout the second half but the latter somehow held on, despite losing their captain and ace centre back Roman Saiss to injury and getting a red card in stoppage time. Ronaldo himself had a chance to score in the last 10 minutes of regulation time but his shoot was saved by the Moroccan goalkeeper.
Ronaldo, 37, left Saturday’s game in tears. The country’s football federation had earlier had to publicly deny reports that the skipper had threatened to leave during the tournament. Prime Minister Antonio Costa immediately comforted the team, tweeting: “We dreamed together, now we suffer together”. Portugal player Bernardo Silva said after the match: “There is frustration, sadness… we believed it was possible to go further (in the tournament), but unfortunately it was not possible, we apologize to all Portuguese.”