Morocco stunned Spain 3-0 on penalty kicks and advanced to the World Cup quarterfinals for the first time after playing to a 0-0 draw Tuesday in Doha, Qatar.
After Spain’s first shootout attempt by Pablo Sarabia struck the right post, Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou turned aside shots from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets.
Morocco got successful penalty kicks from Abdelhamid Sabiri, Hakim Ziyech and the clincher from Achraf Hakimi — who was born and raised in Spain.
Morocco will face Portugal in Saturday’s quarterfinals. Spain has not gone past the Round of 16 since winning the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
–Portugal 6, Switzerland 1
Goncalo Ramos tallied a hat trick playing in place of Cristiano Ronaldo to lead Portugal’s Round of 16 rout over the Swiss in Lusail, Qatar.
Ramos opened the scoring in the 17th minute and added goals in the 51st and 67th minutes to crush Switzerland and help Portugal advance to the quarterfinals of a World Cup for the first time since 2006.
Portugal will play upstart Morocco in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Pepe tallied in the 33rd minute to become the oldest player (39) to score in a World Cup knockout stage. Raphael Guerreiro scored in the 55th and Rafael Leao culminated the scoring in second-half stoppage time.
Coach Fernando Santos sat Ronaldo in lieu of Ramos but Portugal didn’t miss a beat. Ronaldo eventually checked into the game in the 73rd minute.
Manuel Akanji scored the lone goal for Switzerland in the 58th minute.
–Field Level Media