Morocco coach Walid Regragui urges his all-conquering stars to carry on dreaming

Atlas Lions are one game away from the World Cup final

Morocco's Jawad El Yamiq celebrates after the 1-0 World Cup quarter-final win against Portugal at Al Thumama Stadium on December 10, 2022. Getty

Yassine Bounou, Bilal El Khannouss, Reda Tagnaouti and Achraf Hakimi of Morocco celebrate the team's victory. Getty

Walid Regragui, coach of Morocco, celebrates with the team. Getty

Yahya Attiat-Allah of Morocco celebrates. Getty

Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri celebrates after scoring the only goal. Reuters

Morocco's Youssef En-Nesyri heads home in the first half. AP

Portugal's Otavio, Bruno Fernandes and Ruben Neves argue with referee Facundo Tello. Reuters

Morocco manager Walid Regragui. EPA

Portugal's Ruben Dias with Diogo Dalot. Getty

Moussef En-Nesyri scores for Morocco. Reuters

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo runs with the ball after coming on in the second half. AP

Portugal's Bruno Fernandes goes down in the box but no penalty was given. Getty

Portugal's Goncalo Ramos is helped up by Ruben Dias and Otavio. Reuters

Morocco's Achraf Hakimi goes head-to-head with Otavio of Portugal. EPA

Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo talks with the referee Facundo Tello. AP

Morocco's Romain Saiss is carried off in the second half. Getty

Goncalo Ramos of Portugal reacts after missing a chance. Getty

Phtographers surround Portugal subsitute Cristiano Ronaldo before the match. AP

Walid Regragui urged Morocco to keep dreaming of making even more history after his team became the first African side to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Also the first Arab country to contest the tournament’s quarter-finals, Morocco defeated Portugal 1-0 in the last eight at Al Thumama Stadium in Al Wakrah.

Youssef En-Nesyri’s header three minutes before half-time sealed another place in the record books for Morocco, who now sit one match from a World Cup final.

Speaking immediately after the Portugal win, coach Regragui said: “What's important for future generations is we've shown that it is possible for an African team to get to the semi-finals of the World Cup. Or even the final, why not?

“Three or four matches ago, I was asked if we could win the World Cup. And I said, 'why not?' We can dream. Why shouldn't we dream? If you don't dream, you don't get anywhere. It doesn't cost you anything.

“European countries are used to winning the World Cup, so we're going to have to try and get in there - and go beyond ourselves.”

Morocco, unbeaten in all five matches in Qatar with only one goal conceded, qualified for the knockouts for the first time in 36 years by finishing top of their group.

They then saw off 2010 champions Spain on penalties in the last 16, before dispatching 2016 European champions Portugal, who introduced Cristiano Ronaldo as a second-half substitute, with a brilliant display of grit and fine play.

Morocco v Portugal player ratings

MOROCCO RATINGS: Yassine Bounou - 9, Made a whole host of impressive saves, stopping Joao Felix’s header, catching Raphael Guerreiro’s cross under pressure from Bruno Fernandes, making an outstanding save to deny Felix, then holding Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike at the second attempt. Reuters

Achraf Hakimi - 8, Defended brilliantly in one-on-one situations against Felix. Was also involved in some lovely link-up play but wasn’t afraid to get rid when required. Made a superb burst up the pitch and had the intelligence to win a free-kick at the end of it. AFP

Jawad El Yamiq - 9, Put in a herculean display, doing well to block Guerreiro’s shot and getting just enough on his deflection off Felix’s shot for it to go off target. Made a heroic header in extra time. AFP

Romain Saiss - 8, Was a true leader for his team and got up impressively to clear Ruben Dias’ long pass forward. Valiantly played on as long as he could before succumbing to his injury. AP

Yahya Attiat-Allah - 9, Having already got forward well a few times, delivered the inviting cross for Youssef En Nesyri’s opener – although he did miss the target from a good opportunity. Defended brilliantly throughout, especially against Diogo Dalot. AFP

Azzedine Ounahi - 8, Showed a cool head in every situation and was brilliant on the ball, notably moving it out to Attiat-Allah in the build-up to the opener. Hit a shot horribly high and wide. Getty

Sofyan Amrabat - 9, Did a brilliant job of winning the ball and moving it, as epitomised when he regained possession in the opposition’s half and passed to Hakim Ziyech, who won a corner. Stepped up at vital times as Portugal pursued an equaliser. AFP

Selim Amallah - 6, Showed intent throughout but brought a disappointing end to a couple of brilliant moves, with a poor touch ending one before he conjured a horrible shot off target from another. AFP

Hakim Ziyech - 7, Cut inside Otavio well but dragged his ambitious shot wide. Then got involved more and provided some lovely touches in tight areas while also helping out defensively. Brilliant free-kick delivery made things awkward for Diogo Costa. Reuters

Youssef En Nesyri - 8, Sent an early header over the crossbar under little pressure, headed off target from Ziyech’s free-kick, but came up big at the third attempt when he beat Diogo Costa to reach Attiat-Allah’s cross. Also put in a lot of great work to help defensively. Getty

Sofiane Boufal - 7, Showed a willingness to work hard for his team as well as displaying quality, as was epitomised by the trick near his own corner flag to maintain possession and win a free-kick, then again when he pickpocketed Cristiano Ronaldo on the edge of the box. AFP

SUBS: Achraf Dari (Saiss, 58’) - 7, Was forced to sprint back and chase Felix almost immediately after coming on but did it brilliantly. Kept Ramos away from Bruno Fernandes’ cross well. Booked for a heavy challenge on Rafael Leao. AP

Walid Cheddira (Amallah, 65’) - 3, Made a good defensive header but couldn’t quite get through at the end of a brilliant counter. Should have left the ball when Amrabat played it through and was then sent off after receiving two yellow cards in as many minutes. AP

Badr Benoun (En Nesyri, 65’) - 8, Made a strong header to clear Leao’s cross and guarded Bounou as he gathered Ronaldo’s shot after making the initial save. Headed away Fernandes’ ball superbly. Reuters

Zakaria Aboukhlal (Ziyech, 81’) – N/R, Constantly hassled the Portuguese defence but couldn’t dink the ball past Costa after racing through. EPA

Yahya Jabrane (Boufal, 82’) – N/R, Was saved by Bono after his poor pass resulted in a threatening Felix shot but help edhis team see out the game. AP

PORTUGAL RATINGS: Diogo Costa - 6, Gathered Boufal’s shot convincingly but was outjumped by En Nesyri as he scored the winner. Did well to keep out Ziyech’s free-kick and stop Aboukhlal. AFP

Diogo Dalot - 7, Made a great challenge to stop Attiat-Allah’s cross, but the Moroccan full-back ended up having far more joy down that side in the first half, before Dalot put in a strong display in the second half. Did brilliantly to stop Cheddira getting through. AFP

Pepe - 5, Showed intent with his passing but there wasn’t always the quality to match, while he headed wide from a brilliant opportunity in the final moments. AFP

Ruben Dias - 6, Had looked dominant in the air in both boxes before seemingly ducking out when En Nesyri scored the opener, likely expecting his goalkeeper to gather the ball. Put in a great tackle to stop Ziyech breaking forward. AFP

Raphael Guerreiro - 6, Saw a powerful effort blocked and played a good pass for Felix’s chance but struggled defensively against Ziyech. EPA

Bernardo Silva - 6, Was happy to accept the ball under pressure and played a great pass to get Felix into a one-on-one. Picked out Fernandes brilliantly for his chance and couldn’t quite get enough on the free-kick pass to turn it goalwards. AFP

Ruben Neves - 6, Did the basics well on the ball but struggled to keep up with Morocco’s midfield at times, as was epitomised when he resorted to pulling back Ounahi. AFP

Otavio - 7, Took up good positions and picked his moments to progress. Turned brilliantly and provided an inviting cross for Goncalo Ramos’ chance. However, he went down very dramatically at times. EPA

Bruno Fernandes - 6, Always worked hard and but the quality of his passing varied. Hit the crossbar with an audacious effort, then fired over from a promising position. Couldn’t quite execute his pass to Bernardo Silva. Getty

Goncalo Ramos - 4, Having been the star man against Switzerland, it was easy to forget that Ramos was on the pitch at times as Morocco’s defence marshalled him well. Headed wide from a great opportunity. AFP

Joao Felix - 6, Had an early header saved, a shot deflected off El Yamiq before sailing narrowly wide and a first-time effort that he completely wasted. Had some poor touches and struggled in one-on-ones against Hakimi. His brilliant shot was denied by Bounou. AFP

SUBS: Joao Cancelo (Guerreiro, 51’) - 6, Provided some moments of quality but often found himself being matched by Hakimi, Ziyech or both. His ball into the box was just too high for Dias. Getty

Cristiano Ronaldo (Neves, 51’) - 6, Was involved immediately but his cross was gathered by Bono. Pickpocketed by Boufal as he lined up a shot before being denied by Bono after racing through. Getty

Rafael Leao (Ramos, 69’) - 6, Showed immediate intent and lured Dari into getting a yellow card, then delivered a brilliant cross that Pepe should have scored from. AP

Vitinha (Otavio, 69’) - 6, Played plenty of nice passes but none that notably progressed the play for Portugal. Booked for a late challenge on Ounahi AP

Ricardo Horta (Dalot, 80’) – N/R, His first pass went straight to a Moroccan and he didn’t improve much, failing to get much out of Attiyat-Allah. AFP

Morocco will face either reigning world champions France in the semi-final on Wednesday.

“The message I'm trying to get to the players is to be confident, go out there and give everything, and have no regrets. And they believed me,” Regragui said. “Of course, it's great to come to the World Cup, to play those three group stage games. We have elite players, and we have a team that can win games at the World Cup.

“Sometimes you exaggerate things, but they actually believed it and they've now shown that they are capable of performing at this level.”

Once more, Morocco had goalkeeper Yassine Bounou to thank for a keeping their dream alive. The Sevilla stopper, known more commonly as Bono, made a number of saves on Saturday, repelling Joao Felix on more than one occasion, and Ronaldo right at the death.

Voted man of the match for a third time this tournament, Bono said: “As our coach said, we're here to change the mentality. This feeling of inferiority, we need to get rid of it. The generation coming after us will now know that Moroccan players can create miracles.”