Morocco beat France to reach Under-20 World Cup final

Morocco defeated France 5-4 on penalties on Wednesday night to qualify for its first Under-20 World Cup final.

Third goalkeeper Abdelhakim El Mesbahi came off the bench near the end of extra time and made the decisive save in the shootout.

Morocco will face Argentina, which edged Colombia 1-0 to reach its eighth final at the under-20 tournament.

French goalkeeper Lisandru Olmeta’s own goal in the 32nd minute gave Morocco the lead before midfielder Lucas Michal equalised in the 59th.

It was tied 1-1 in regulation and near the end of extra time, when Morocco’s coach Mohamed Ouahbi sent in El Mesbahi for the shootout.

El Mesbahi had headshots of France’s players printed on his water bottle and a small graphic of where they might direct their penalty kicks.

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The strategy worked because El Mesbahi, who hadn’t played in any of Morocco’s previous matches at the tournament, stopped France´s last shot from Djylian Nguessan.

Ouahbi said after the game: “We managed to stay focused, calm and wait for our moments.

“Now we’re enjoying it, we’re in the final. I’m quite emotional because it’s a historic moment, but we want to win the final. We’re going to calm down quickly because what we want is to win the cup.”

Morocco topped its group, beating Spain and Brazil in the process, and then beat South Korea and the United States to reach the semi-finals.

The African nation’s best previous performance in the tournament was fourth place in 2005.

The Star