Morocco stun Netherlands on penalties, reach World Cup round of 16

Morocco held its nerve in Monterrey and beat the Netherlands 3-2 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes, sending the Atlas Lions into the World Cup round of 16 and setting up a meeting with Canada in Houston on July 4. Yassine Bounou was the decisive figure in the shootout, stopping Crysencio Summerville before Ismael Saibari converted the winning penalty.

The match at Estadio Monterrey in Guadalupe, Mexico, swung late. Cody Gakpo put the Netherlands ahead in the 72nd minute, but Morocco found its equalizer deep into stoppage time when Issa Diop headed home in the 90+1 minute for his first international goal. That goal carried the game into extra time, where neither side found a winner before the shootout decided it.

Gakpo scored two days after announcing the loss of his unborn child.

Morocco had already beaten Canada 2-1 in the group stage in Qatar in 2022, a run that carried the national team to the semifinals and made it the first African side to reach that stage. The Netherlands, by contrast, exited earlier than it ever had in a World Cup run that reached this phase, having advanced at least to the round of 16 in each of its previous 11 appearances at that level.