FIFA World Cup 2022 results: Cristiano Ronaldo benched, fans crushed as Morocco beat Spain
Spanish and Moroccan fans were caught up in crowd carnage as they were trapped in a crush outside their World Cup game with riot cops deployed to handle the chaos.
FULL-TIME: Portugal 6-1 Switzerland
Morocco 0 (3) v Spain 0 (0) Morocco win on penalties
Spanish and Moroccan fans were caught up in crowd carnage as they were trapped in a crush outside their World Cup game.
Riot cops were deployed to push back a large crowd of fans who then became trapped against a chain-link fence before the round of 16 kick off at the Education City Stadium.
Harrowing video shows World Cup fans of both teams stuck on a narrow pathway between a fence and a wall.
Screams of the fans and the barks of police dogs can be heard in the footage of the chaos.
Riot cops and security guards are seen at the end blocking the crowd’s way and shoving the supporters back.
Other footage shows cops in helmets clashing with the fans.
WATCH: #BNNQatar Reports
— Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (@gchahal) December 6, 2022
Football fans were crushed by riot police in #Qatar on Tuesday night, just hours before #Spain's #WorldCup2022#FIFAWorldCup match against #Morocco, with fans fearing they would be trampled. pic.twitter.com/fTOEuat9l4
Men, women and children could all be seen stuck in the crowd pressed against the fence.
Police lined up with riot shields as they corralled the fans waiting near the stadium.
Ahead of kickoff on Tuesday, security appeared tighter than at other games.
Rows of riot police were deployed on the ground, drones were seen flying overhead, and cops were seen on horseback.
Marshals at the stadium perimeter shouted “show your tickets please” at approaching fans and guards checked for tickets before letting them through.
A crowd of fans without tickets were waiting beyond the marshals.
“We hope to get in,” said one man, who declined to give his name.
Going crazy outside #morocco_spain game. Lots of morocco fans tryin to get in without tickets. Almost in a crush pic.twitter.com/O3077nc73e
— Iffy aka Giggs (@giggsakaiffy) December 6, 2022
Moroccan fans are some of the most numerous of any team left at the world cup.
Many of them live and work in Qatar and were hoping to see their team advance to its first quarter-final.
While Morocco, in the last 16 for the first time since 1986, were the underdogs, the support of their vociferous, red-clan fans has been seen as a big asset in the first World Cup hosted by an Arab state.
“Atlas Lions carry hopes of a whole continent,” the Moroccan newspaper Maroc Le Jour declared in a front-page headline.
The match may gain piquancy from the familiarity of the opponents.
The Spanish mainland is visible from Morocco across the Strait of Gibraltar and thousands of Moroccans live there for work.
As a colonial power, Spain controlled swathes of northern Morocco as well as the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which Rabat sees as its own, and still retains two small North African enclaves at Ceuta and Melilla that Rabat says it should quit.
Diplomatic ties improved this year after Morocco had withdrawn its ambassador to Spain in 2021 in a dispute over Madrid’s handling of medical treatment for a Western Sahara separatist leader.
The Moroccan consulate has asked fans to “show sportsmanship regardless of the result” and to avoid doing anything that could trigger incidents with Spanish fans.
12pm 1000 PENALTIES AND THEY STILL LOST
Spain boss Luis Enrique instructed his squad to each take 1,000 penalties before their shoot-out defeat to Morocco.Enrique’s side were knocked out in the World Cup last-16 after failing to convert a single spot-kick.
The match ended 0-0 with Spain dominating possession, before Morocco showed their class with a 3-0 penalty shoot-out win.
Pablo Sarabia, Carlos Soler, and Sergio Busquets all missed for Spain despite manager Enrique telling his squad to practice at least 1,000 penalties before jumping on the plane to Qatar.
Enrique was keen to avoid a repeat of Spain’s penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy in the semi-final of Euro 2020.
The Spain boss said: “I imagine that they have done their homework.
“Over a year ago, in one of the Spain camps, I told them they had to get here with at least 1,000 penalties taken. If you wait until getting here to practise penalties… [it won’t be enough].
“It’s a moment of maximum tension, a time to show your nerve and that you can shoot the penalty in the way you have decided, if you have trained it a thousand times. It says a lot about each player.
“It’s trainable, manageable, how you manage the tension. It’s increasingly less luck - the goalkeepers have more influence.
“We have a very good goalkeeper, any of the three can do very well in this situation. Every time we finish training, I see a lot of players taking penalties.”
10:15AM KYLLER BLOW FOR FRANCE
Kylian Mbappe has handed France a major injury scare just days before their World Cup quarter-final clash with England. The tournament’s five goal top scorer was missing from training last night after complaining of a niggling ankle injury.
And though Didier Deschamps’ coaching staff insisted he was simply doing recovery work in the gym, his absence has sparked fears in the French camp that he could miss Saturday’s game against England.
The whole squad were given Monday off to recover after the 3-1 win against Poland the previous day and Mbappe was the only player not to return to full training Wednesday
The 23-year-old PSG superstar has been in sensational form all tournament and is the player Gareth Southgate’s men fear more than anyone.
France’s 52-goal record scorer Olivier Giroud knows just how important Mbappe is to his country’s hopes of retaining the title they won in Russia four years ago.
He said: “Kylian is obviously the best striker I have played with in all of my career.
“He is an amazing player and the scary thing is that he is still young and is only going to improve.
“We’ve still not seen the best of him and I hope it will come soon because we know that he is going to break all the records.
“Right from the beginning of this competition he has been crucial for us, very decisive and competitive. He is unbelievable.”
Deschamps’ assistant coach Guy Stephan went even further, insisting: “Kylian is off the planet with his skills.
“He has already scored nine goals at the World Cup and he’s not even 24. Even Ronaldo and Messi hadn’t scored that many at his age. He’s among the absolute elite.”
PORTUGAL DON’T NEED RONALDO
Cristiano Ronaldo is not a starter anymore and Portugal are a better side without him.
His power is diminishing and his younger teammates are just simply better options.
It’s the bitter pill the megastar is going to have to accept if his career is going to continue.
Ronaldo was benched for Portugal’s last 16 clash with Switzerland with Gonçalo Ramos called in to replace him.
It was a bold decision from the coach but the right one with the 21-year-old coming on and scoring a hat-trick on his World Cup debut that finished 6-1 in Portugal’s favour.
An incredible display from the entire Portuguese team however is once again being overshadowed by one man.
As the anthems were being sung, the world’s photography media had their backs to the starting 11 and focused solely on the man left out allegedly for sulking with the coach.
Portugal continue to be a storyline centred around Ronaldo and the narrative has to change.
No sooner had the final whistle gone and Portugal were assured of a quarter-final berth, Ronaldo had walked off the pitch, seemingly unwilling to celebrate with his teammates.
“When he was benched at Man United, he’s gone on, done an interview and left. Slammed the door,” Craig Foster said after the match.
“He did leave the field there, he had issues with Santos after the last game.
“The coach has come out, for the first time they’re coming out and challenging him saying that’s wrong. That never used to happen with Cristiano Ronaldo. That shows his power is diminishing.
“I think it was reasonably obvious to everyone, including most of Portugal that he just wasn’t contributing as much and that what Ronaldo has to give now at club and national level is off the bench.”
SBS pundit Sarah Walsh echoed Foster’s sentiments: “Look, it’s hard to watch to be honest,” she said of Ronaldo’s demise.
“He’s been such a great for so long. You can just tell he doesn’t want to come off the bench.
“For me, there’s fascinating things that played out in the final ten minutes, where he was pressing, isolated press, turning around basically angry at his teammates for not pressing behind him and wanting to speed up the play when his team is winding down the match was hard to watch. He can finish like no other striker in the world.”
With 20 minutes to play, Ronaldo was called off the bench much to the delight of the crowd, but debate of his impact will no doubt continue for weeks and months to come.
There is a significant amount of truth to the statement that Portugal play better without Ronaldo.
Portugal look so much better without Ronaldo in starting eleven. Genuine challengers to win tournament.
— Oliver Holt (@OllieHolt22) December 6, 2022
It's almost like when you drop Ronaldo it makes you a better team.
— Mike Keegan (@MikeKeegan_DM) December 6, 2022
Ronaldo can protest all he wants but the reality is that managers for club and country now reckon their teams are better off without him. He reckons he can still play elite CL football but the only club keen on him at the moment is Al Nassr
— Alex Shaw (@AlexShawESPN) December 6, 2022
Portugal look much better without Ronaldo… shocker 🤷ðŸ¼â€â™‚ï¸
— Joe Thomlinson (@joethomlinson) December 6, 2022
8:19AM REMEMBER THE NAME
Remember the name Gonçalo Ramos; the kid who has been called into replace a sulky Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal’s last 16 clash with Switzerland scored a hat-trick on his World Cup debut.
Amid widespread criticism of the Portugal coach for daring to bench Ronaldo, his decision was validated with the 21-year-old producing easily the best performance of any player at this World Cup.
His first goal seemed the impossible dream – an angle most others wouldn’t have the gall to attempt.
Barely five minutes into the second half and the youngster netted his second before the dream was complete with his third and final goal putting his side 5-1 up.
Prior to the tournament, Ramos had played just 33 minutes of international football for his country.
“This is arguably, I think it’s quite obvious the best performance of the World Cup so far,” Craig Foster said. “It was amazing. So for Ramos to come on and score...certainly one of the best debuts in World Cup history after Klose in 2002.
“He’s the second youngest hat-trick scorer in the knockout stages of the World Cup since Pele in 1958 in the semi-final for the Brazil World Cup winning team. This is an unbelievable performance.
“Credit to Santos. He’s done an amazing job.
“His value (Ramos) to Benfica has doubled now. Manchester United ironically are talking about him to effectively replace Ronaldo, who of course has left the club.”
7:50AM ANYONE ELSE WANT TO SCORE?
Portugal have their 6th of the match and a stunner it was too – aren’t they all.
Just pouring the salt into this gaping wound of Switzerland, Anota Leao with an insane strike.
Imagine having him as a substitute, not even a match starter.
Man Portugal are a massive threat, I didn’t have them in the top 4 for this tournament. Mind is rapidly changing
8:43 RONALDO DENIED
A break away in play for the veteran and he controlled the ball sublimely before smacking it into the back of the net.
But the flag was up, he’s denied.
7:33AM WHAT HAPPENED TO SPAIN?
Sergio Busquets said Spain’s 3-0 defeat on penalties by Morocco was a “cruel” way to decide the World Cup last-16 clash after the teams drew 0-0.
The midfielder’s spot-kick was saved by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou as the 2010 World Cup winners failed to score any of their penalties.
“It was a pity. It was decided on penalties in the most cruel way,” said Busquets.
“It was tough, very hard for us. We tried to wear them down, give them the run-around, find spaces. We lacked that little luck for the final ball.” Spain were also knocked out of Euro 2020 on penalties in the semi-finals by Italy.
Busquets, 34, would not be immediately drawn on whether he would continue playing international football.
“Now the most important thing is the national team and not me,” said the Barcelona player.
“It’s a tough night and we have to pick ourselves up and use this as experience for our game. There are some very young players who this will help a lot.”
Spain goalkeeper Unai Simon was the hero in Euro 2020 against Switzerland in a quarter-final shootout but on this occasion he could only stop one of Morocco’s efforts.
“I think in the 120 minutes of the game we were superior to our opponents, but what I say counts for little now if we can’t find the net,” added Simon, who saved Badr Benoun’s penalty.
“In the shootout they were superior and that is what took them to the quarter-finals.
“We are seeing that there are surprises throughout the World Cup. We were not capable of overcoming them and we did not expect to be eliminated against Morocco, but it’s the reality and now we have to go home.”
7:26AM RAMOS HAS THE HAT-TRICK
He will be long remembered as the emerging star of this World Cup, Ramos has his third.
man of the moment and what a way to respond to all the conjecture around being brought into replace one of the biggest names in football.
“Delicious hat-trick! Dream the dream, why don’t you,” Peter Drury as always nails the big moment.
“The world is yours, son. That is some sort of a World Cup bow.
“It’s a night he’s going to struggle to better in the long career that lies ahead of him. He has peaked quickly.”
7:16AM SWITZERLAND HAVE ONE
It’s raining goals I can barely keep up.
Won’t come to mean much but Switzerland have found the back of the net.
Akanji pounces at the back post and that’s the first time Switzerland have ever scored at this stage of a World Cup.
7:14AM PORTUGAL AGAIN!
This is getting out of control. At what stage are we allowed to start talking about how much BETTER Portugal plays without Ronaldo on the field?
Another incredible burst of play on the counter and it’s 4-0 thanks to Guerreiro.
Magnificent football and so much better flow to the Portuguese without THAT GUY on the field.
7:09AM RAMOS AGAIN! POR 3-0 SWI
Barely five minutes into the second half and the Portuguese are three up and it’s the youngster none of us had heard of until about an hour ago.
Smart work on the right wing and it’s slotted in to perfection an the keeper is nutmegged.
So Morocco v Portugal it is – short of a miracle in Qatar.
6:48AM IS SPAIN COACH NEXT TO GO?
Luis Enrique wants to stay on as Spain coach but said his future was not yet decided after Morocco knocked La Roja out in the World Cup last 16.
The manager, who led Spain to the Euro 2020 semi-finals, saw his side beaten 3-0 on penalties after a 0-0 draw with the North African side over 120 minutes.
“I can’t say, because I don’t know,” Luis Enrique told a press conference when asked about his future.
“The national team has time. I am very happy with the Spanish FA, the president and with (the sporting director).
“If it was up to me I would stay all my life, but that is not the case. “I have to think calmly what is the best for me and for the national team. All situations will have an influence.” The coach was first appointed in 2018 after Spain were eliminated in the last 16 of the Russia World Cup by the hosts.
6:33 GOAL! PORTUGAL SCORE
The “granddaddy of them” all according to Peter Drury as 39-year-old Pepe gets up on a corner and bangs the ball in with his head.
“Old enough to be the father of the man who scored Portugal’s first, Portugal ancient and modern,” Drury is a port of a commentator.
6:17AM GOAL! RONALDO WHO?
Remember the name Gonçalo Ramos; the kid who has been called into replace sulky Ronaldo has just scored an impossible goal, I don’t think even he expected that to go in.
It came from nothing, the angle was always in doubt.
Fourth touch of his first ever start for Portugal and he’s scored in the knockout stage of a World Cup – how’s that for cool and calm.
An absurd goal
5:45AM RONALDO BENCHED
Cristiano Ronaldo was left out of Portugal’s starting line-up for their World Cup last 16 clash against Switzerland, with Goncalo Ramos selected up front at his expense.
Ronaldo is the only man to score at five World Cups and is the record scorer in men’s international football with 118 goals
5AM PELE UPDATE
Pele’s health is “improving progressively,” his doctors said, a week after the 82-year-old Brazilian football legend was hospitalised amid ongoing treatment for colon cancer.
With the World Cup in full swing in Qatar, fans have been on edge over the health of the footballer considered by many the greatest of all time, who has been in fragile health in recent years.
Pele was hospitalised last Tuesday in Sao Paulo for what doctors called a “re-evaluation” of his chemotherapy treatments, which he has been undergoing since having surgery in September 2021 to remove a colon tumour.
They also diagnosed a respiratory infection, which they are treating with antibiotics.
His family said it was the result of a Covid-19 infection that Pele, who is fully vaccinated, contracted three weeks ago.
Pele “continues improving progressively, especially the respiratory infection,” his medical team said in a statement.
“He remains in a standard room, with stable vital signs, conscious and with no new complications.”
BRAZIL DIVIDE THE WORLD
Brazil’s players have divided football after they celebrated each of their goals in the 4-1 World Cup mauling of South Korea with some extravagant dance moves, with even their coach getting in on the act.
The pre-tournament favourites put on a fearsome display of attacking football to send South Korea home and set up a quarter-final on Friday in Qatar with 2018 runners-up Croatia.
Coach Tite’s side took the lead after just seven minutes through Vinicius Junior and Neymar scored from the penalty spot on his return from an ankle injury as the Koreans were outclassed.
But it was the manner of the exuberant celebrations during Monday’s which caught the eye of many, with the Brazilians rolling out a set of choreographed dance moves.
“Look, I’ve never seen so much dancing, it’s like watching Strictly,” said former Manchester United captain Roy Keane, referring to a hugely popular television show in Britain where celebrities compete in a dance contest.
“I just can’t believe what I’m watching, I really can’t,” added the famously scathing television pundit.
“I don’t like this, I think it’s really disrespecting the opposition,” Keane added.
Roy Keane unhappy about Brazil’s celebrations 🇧🇷 🕺ðŸ¿#TouchlineFracas [@BeardedGenius]pic.twitter.com/xOkPdd5jqW
— #TouchlineFracas (@touchlinefracas) December 5, 2022
Even Tite did a jig with his players in front of his dugout after Richarlison scored a classy third for Brazil in the 29th minute.
“There are always spiteful people who will understand it as disrespect,” the 61-year-old said afterwards, defending the celebrations.
“I told the players to hide me a little, I know about the visibility. “I didn’t want it to have any other interpretation than the joy of the goal, the result, the performance, but not disrespect for the opponent or (South Korea coach) Paulo Bento, for whom I have a lot of respect.”
Alexi Lalas, the former United States stalwart who played at the 1994 World Cup, said he was all for it.
“If you are somebody out there that frowns and is grouchy and grumpy about soccer players dancing after they have scored a goal, or about Brazilian players dancing after they score a goal, and have some misguided concept of what sportsmanship is …
“Then I feel sorry for you, I feel sorry for the life you live that has no joy,” he told Fox Sports.
“If you want to dance, if you want to sing, if you want run around like a crazy person, you do whatever it is you want to do to celebrate the greatest moment in our beautiful game.” But Graeme Souness, another famously no-nonsense pundit from Britain, was having none of it.
“It’s only a matter of time before someone goes right through one of these Brazilians,” said the notoriously tough-tackling former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder.
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