Morocco 0(3) - Spain 0 (0) (Historical Match) FIFA World Cup 2022

Morocco's plan comes off to perfection.

Morocco knew exactly what they were going to do against a favoured Spain side at Education City Stadium in the Round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup. Stand strong in defence, as they had done in the tournament up till now (conceding only one goal in the group stages, an own goal against Canada), and look to hit the Spaniards on the break when they had the chance...

And if those breaks led to nothing they'd regroup and absolutely ensure Spain couldn't break through. And if the match had to go to extra-time, well so be it. And if it had to go to penalties, well that too.

So it came to pass. Spain moved the ball around for the entire match, as we knew they would, stringing together something like 1,000 passes to 250 from Morocco, but in terms of shots and chances there was little to separate the two sides, and when after 120 minutes neither side had scored, Morocco's men of the hour did exactly what was needed: keeper Bono saved two, while Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi scored their spot-kicks to send Spain out.