Morocco Advances to World Cup Last 16 After Penalty Shootout Victory Over Netherlands; Germany Also Exits

So, a dramatic day of action for you all. Two penalty shoot outs and a thrilling winner in normal time. Doesn't get much better than that. Congratulations to Morocco, Paraguay and Brazil for reaching the last 16. The Dutch, Germans and Japanese will have to go back to the drawing board. We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning for Côte d'Ivoire vs Norway in Dallas, with kick off at 3:00am AEST. If you hate sleep and love football as much as we do, I hope you'll join us then.

Morocco beat the Netherlands 3-2 on penalties to reach the World Cup last 16 after their Round of 32 tie ended 1-1 following extra time, setting up a meeting with co-hosts Canada. Ismael Saibari converted the winning spot kick after Yassine Bounou saved Crysencio Summerville's penalty, sending Morocco through after a dramatic contest in which they had forced extra time with a stoppage-time equaliser. Morocco's Neil El Aynaoui and Dutch substitute Justin Kluivert missed their attempts before Bart Verbruggen appeared to save Soufiane Rahimi's effort, only for the ball to squirm underneath him and trickle over the line. Quinten Timber then put the ball wide with the Dutch side's fourth kick, Achraf Hakimi struck the post with the chance to seal victory before Saibari kept his nerve to send Morocco through. The shootout capped a gripping encounter in Monterrey that swung repeatedly in both teams' favour, with Cody Gakpo's emotional second-half opener cancelled out by Issa Diop's stoppage-time header before neither team could find a winner in extra time. Morocco fashioned the better chances before the break, with goalkeeper Verbruggen producing a series of outstanding saves to deny Ayoub Bouaddi's close-range header and Neil El Aynaoui's powerful effort. At the other end, Bounou was finally called into action to parry Micky van de Ven's long-range strike. Hakimi rattled the crossbar and forced another save from Verbruggen as the Dutch struggled to contain the full back's runs from deep before Ronald Koeman's introduction of Wout Weghorst gave his side a much-needed focal point in attack.

Whatever your affiliation, that's a tough thing to see. The Dutch are absolutely distraught.

Speaking of Germany, their exit makes a fair portion of our quick hits this morning. Two massive upsets occurred on the same day, with Germany and the Netherlands failing to make the last 16. Germany went out in the group stage in 2018 and the Netherlands didn't even qualify. This is the third tournament in a row that Germany hasn't made the last 16. Before that, the only time they didn't make the knock out rounds of a World Cup tournament was in 1950, when they were banned from entering. They were knocked out in the first round in 1936, but there were only 15 teams that entered. It must be said, the Netherlands being beaten by Morocco is not considered an upset, as they are ranked next to each other inside the top 10 on the FIFA rankings, and it was a good game between two good teams. Paraguay beating Germany, however, is definitely a shock.

Based on the overall balance of the game, the Moroccans deserved to win. The Dutch went away from the tactics that had served them so well in the group stage, and their five at the back definitely stymied some of their attacking options. Although possession was pretty even early on, as the game went on Morocco gradually suffocated the Dutch team and pushed them further and further back. The goal came against the run of play, and Morocco were fully deserving of their late equaliser. In extra time only one team looked like it would win it.

What a fantastic game Netherlands v Morocco. It seems remarkable that was a Round of 32 clash and not later in the tournament. But that's knock out football. The quality of both teams was outstanding, both teams gave it a go.