Montreal-born keeper saves Morocco

Heroics in shootout against Spain earn Sevilla star player-of-the-game honours

Goalkeeper Yassine AL RAYYAN, QATAR Bounou would have looked pretty good in a Canada jersey had things not worked out so well with Morocco.

Bounou, 31, was born in Montreal before his parents moved to Morocco and he went on to become its national team goalkeeper.

Bounou made two saves in a penalty shootout against Spain on Tuesday to backstop Morocco into the quarterfinals of the World Cup for the first time in its history.

Morocco won the penalty shootout 3-0 after a scoreless tie through 120 minutes of watching Spain pass the ball around.

Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech and Achraf Hakimi scored for Morocco in the shootout, while Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler and captain Sergio Busquets missed for Spain. Sarabia hit the goalpost in the penalty shootout and on the last kick of the game in extra time.

“We felt the support of our fans, be it in Morocco or here and that gave us the motivation to give such a performance,” Bounou said. “I want to thank all the players who helped us get over this enormous task. It was a great effort from everyone and I applaud them. I offer this gift of joy to all of our people.”

Bounou has conceded just one goal in the tournament so far, which was an own goal in the 2-1 victory against Canada in the group stage. Atiba Hutchinson came close as well, as his header crashed down on to the back of the goal-line from the underside of the crossbar late in that contest.

Bounou grew up in Casablanca and played through its youth system before being signed by Atletico Madrid in Spain.

He is currently playing with Sevilla in Spain and has made 48 appearances for his country since 2013. He was named player of the game for his heroics in the penalty shootout.

Morocco is making its sixth appearance in the World Cup and had not advanced beyond the group stage since 1986. It is the only team outside of Europe and South America to make it to the last eight.

“When you're in the thick of the moment, you don't realize what you've just achieved,” Bounou said. “But we're happy, and we need to keep focused and what we need to do at the task at hand (quarterfinal). But we're happy that things went our way. Maybe as time goes on, we'll realize what we've achieved.”

Along with defeating Canada, Morocco beat Belgium earlier in the group stage. The celebrations for that victory at home were massive, as they were for the win against Canada, which gave Morocco first place in Group F. They will play Portugal, which later hammered Switzerland.

“We followed the game plan from the start,” Bounou said. “I'm so happy for this win. The whole team played so well; they did a great job; all the players were so good.”

Morocco defended well and hit Spain on the counter attack on the few occasions it had the ball. Morocco was much braver than Spain in the attack and had a number of chances to score through regulation and into extra time.

In the shootout, Bounou was fortunate to see Sarabia's shot hit the goalpost on Spain's first attempt. He then dove to his left to stop Soler and then to his right to deny Busquets. The three misses were enough for Morocco as Hakimi scored the decisive penalty with a “Panenka,” softly chipping the ball into the net while Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon dove to his left.

“There is a little bit of feel and luck (stopping penalties),” Bounou said. “There is not much to say about penalties and how they are, it's just one of those things.”

BRAZIL DEFENDS MEDICAL STAFF

Brazil scored four goals in its win against South Korea on Monday, but was still on the defensive in the post-game news conference.

Along with head coach Tite and assistant Cesar Sampaio, Brazil brought out its head physiotherapist Ricardo Sasaki to speak to reporters.

There had been a report forward Gabriel Jesus was not 100 per cent healthy going out against Cameroon in Brazil's final group game and ended up sustaining a knee injury in the 1-0 loss.

“I would like to talk about Neymar, Danilo, the recovery of Alex Sandro and Gabriel Jesus,” Tite said. “I heard news about Gabriel Jesus that made me feel outraged to the person who put out this news about Gabriel Jesus.”

Neymar missed the last two games of the group stage with an ankle injury, but returned to play 80 minutes in the 4-1 win against South Korea. Danilo is out for the tournament along with Jesus, who has a knee surgery.

“First of all, from our coaching staff, physiotherapy is only a part — a cog in the wheel,” Sasaki said. “So, if the other elements do not work, we will not be able to achieve our goals. The reason we got our player back (Neymar) was because of the physiotherapy, but we also had the other members of our coaching staff help, which is why we managed to win the game.”