{"id":769419,"date":"2026-06-30T07:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769419\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T07:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T07:34:15","slug":"morocco-beat-netherlands-in-dramatic-world-cup-shootout-to-reach-last-16-world-cup-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/769419\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco beat Netherlands in dramatic World Cup shootout to reach last 16 | World Cup 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"World<\/a><\/p>\n

Morocco come from behind to knock the Netherlands out in the round of 32, beating them 3-2 on penalties.<\/p>\n

Published On 30 Jun 202630 Jun 2026<\/p>\n

Morocco defeated the Netherlands in a penalty shootout to advance to the last 16 of the FIFA World Cup<\/a> after a thrilling battle in Monterrey finished 1-1 following extra time.<\/p>\n

Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou made the crucial save to block the Netherlands\u2019 fourth penalty from Crysencio Summerville, before striker Ismael Saibari stepped up to blast home the winning spot-kick that sealed a 3-2 shootout win on Monday.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The victory sends Morocco into a last-16 clash with Canada<\/a> in Houston on Saturday.<\/p>\n

An enthralling match had gone to extra time after Issa Diop had glanced in a dramatic equaliser for Morocco in the first minute of stoppage time as the Netherlands had closed in on victory.<\/p>\n

The Dutch had taken the lead midway through the second half with a goal from Cody Gakpo, playing just days after his partner had confirmed the death of the couple\u2019s unborn son.<\/p>\n

\"SoccerMorocco players celebrate after the match as the team qualifies for the round of 16 [Eloisa Sanchez\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

Liverpool forward Gakpo sank to the turf and appeared overcome with emotion as his teammates surrounded him in a prolonged group embrace.<\/p>\n

But Morocco forced extra time when an unmarked Diop headed home from substitute Chemsdine Talbi\u2019s cross in injury time.<\/p>\n

Morocco had created the better chances in the fractious encounter, which saw players from both sides flying into tackles to test the patience of Brazilian referee Wilton Sampaio.<\/p>\n

The Atlas Lions almost took the lead on 20 minutes when Neil El Aynaoui glanced an Achraf Hakimi corner goal-wards only to be denied by a superb reflex save from Netherlands goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen.<\/p>\n

Verbruggen was pressed into action moments later, this time doing well to tip a vicious strike from Hakimi over the bar.<\/p>\n

\"SoccerNetherlands\u2019 Cody Gakpo celebrates scoring their first goal with Crysencio Summerville [Raquel Cunha\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

The fierce nature of the contest was on full display midway through the half, when Saibari was lucky to escape sanction after elbowing Jan Paul van Hecke in the face.<\/p>\n

The Dutch continued to enjoy plenty of possession but were unable to convert it into goalscoring chances.<\/p>\n

Their best effort came on 44 minutes, when Tottenham\u2019s Micky van de Ven uncorked a ferocious shot from the edge of the area that was tipped over by Bounou.<\/p>\n

Van Hecke continued to find himself in the thick of the action, and after bloodying his head in a collision in the penalty area, made his presence felt with a crunching tackle that upended El Aynaoui just before half-time.<\/p>\n

As the half ended, Saibari just failed to connect with a cross that flashed across the Dutch goal before going behind.<\/p>\n

\"SoccerNetherlands\u2019 Jan Paul van Hecke looks dejected after the penalty shootout as the Dutch are eliminated from the World Cup [Daniel Becerril\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

The drama continued into an end-to-end second half, but appeared to have tilted in the Netherlands\u2019 favour when coach Ronald Koeman brought on forward Wout Weghorst in a flurry of substitutions after the hydration break.<\/p>\n

Weghorst made an immediate impact, flicking on a long ball to send Summerville bearing in on goal. Summerville crossed to Gakpo, who hurled himself at the ball to score.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands, superbly marshalled by Gakpo\u2019s Liverpool teammate Virgil van Dijk, appeared to be heading for victory, but Diop\u2019s late header sent it to extra time.<\/p>\n

Morocco looked to have made the breakthrough when Soufiane Rahimi went through on goal in the 96th minute, only to be denied by a jaw-dropping save from Verbruggen.<\/p>\n

The Netherlands held on for penalties, but despite Morocco missing their first when El Aynaoui hit the bar, the North Africans recovered to win.<\/p>\n

\"SoccerMorocco\u2019s Ismael Saibari, who has been their star player of the tournament, once again proved instrumental in the team\u2019s victory [Raquel Cunha\/Reuters]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Morocco come from behind to knock the Netherlands out in the round of 32, beating them 3-2 on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769420,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,2057,596,12241,24604,16255,44,588,85,6075,124617],"class_list":["post-769419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-middle-east","tag-morocco","tag-netherlands","tag-news","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-us-canada","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769419"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769419\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}