The Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup comes to an end with two brilliant games to end the first knockout stage of the tournament. This tournament has been full of surprises, and one of the games between the two left all of us surprised.
The first game out of the remaining last 2 games was played between Group E Runners up Spain and the winners of Group F Morocco.
Spain being one of the teams to have a good history in the world cup seemed favourites to go ahead in this game. However, the Moroccan defence line remained solid throughout the game, stopping Spain in their path and leaving the game at a 0-0 draw. Spain hit the post of the goal during the last kick of the game, dropping their spirits just before penalties, and it was clearly visible during penalties.
Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
was the star of the game for Morocco as he stopped all the penalties, giving the Morrocans a (3-0) win in the penalty shootout.
Yassine Bounou was given Man of the Match for his sensational stops and keeping. Morocco, for the first time in their country's history, will play in the quarter-finals of the world cup.
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Meanwhile, the second game took place between Switzerland and Portugal.
There were many questions raised when the Portuguese starting lineup was announced and their star player and captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, was not a part of it. In place of Ronaldo started young 21 year old Gonçalo Ramos who shocked everyone by scoring a goal in the 17th minute of the match giving Portugal a 1-0 lead . However, Ramos did not stop there, as he went on to score a hat trick, with two goals coming in the 51st and 67th minutes of the match. There was also a goal from 39-year-old Pepe, who was also Portugal's captain, while Ronaldo was on the bench. Pepe became the oldest player to score at the World Cup knockouts. There were also goals from other players like Rafael Guerreiro and Rafael Leo to contribute to Portugal's massive 6-1 victory over Switzerland and send them into the quarterfinals. The Portuguese fans also had their fanboy moments when Cristiano Ronaldo came on to the field in the 75th minute.
Portugal secured their position in the round of 16 with this win.
It has happened for the first time in a very long time that 7 out of 8 teams that finished on top of their groups managed to make it till the quarterfinals.
Portugal and Morocco will face each other in the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup on the 10th of December at 8:30 p.m. (IST).
