7 matches did not violate expectations in the round of 16 .. and the “Atlas Lions” write history

Morocco competes with Brazil and Portugal for exceptional numbers in the eighth of the final

• Moroccan players celebrate victory and qualification.

  EPA

• Ronaldo did not score in the round of 16, despite Portugal's six in Switzerland.

  Reuters

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The round of 16 matches of the 2022 World Cup concluded with two exciting confrontations, Morocco with Spain and Portugal with Switzerland, as the “Atlas Lions” achieved a historic achievement by defeating the “Matador” with a penalty shootout 3-0 after the end of the match with a draw without goals, while the “Sailors” achieved A landslide victory over Switzerland, 6 goals to 1.

Seven matches in the final price witnessed results that did not contradict the expectations that preceded these matches, with the Netherlands defeating America, Argentina over Australia, France over Poland, England over Senegal, Croatia over Japan, Brazil over South Korea, and Portugal over Switzerland, while Morocco wrote A new history by defeating one of the most prominent candidates to compete for the title, and the "Atlas Lions" qualified for the quarter-finals, in an unprecedented achievement for the Arab teams in the history of their participation in the World Cup.

Morocco competes with the world's strongest teams for exceptional numbers achieved in the round of 16, most notably that the "Atlas Lions" broke a historic knot for the "brown continent" teams, after becoming the first African team to win a penalty shootout in the World Cup.

On the other hand, Morocco is the first Arab team to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup, and it is also the fourth African team to achieve the same achievement after Cameroon 1990, Senegal 2002, and Ghana 2010.

For his part, Walid Regraki became the first Arab and African coach to lead his team to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Yassine Bono is also the first African goalkeeper to save two penalty kicks in one match in the history of the World Cup.

As for the Brazilian national team, it achieved many records after defeating South Korea by four goals to one, most notably that coach Tite included all 26 players registered in the “Selecao” list, including the three goalkeepers, to become the first Brazilian team in the history of the World Cup Finals to He involves all his players in a single copy.

The star of the team, Neymar, after his return from the injury he suffered in his first match in the group stage, was able to score a goal for his team from a penalty kick and put him one goal away from equalizing the goals of legend Pele with the Brazil national team (77 goals), as the Brazilian Thiago Silva became, after his manufacture The third goal for his country, the oldest player to make a goal in the World Cup, at the age of 38 years and 74 days.

For his part, Portugal achieved several exceptional numbers by defeating Switzerland, most notably that star Cristiano Ronaldo does not start a match with the "seas" for the first time since 2008.

Veteran defender Bibi secured a place for himself among the oldest players to score a goal in the playoffs, at the age of 39 years and 283 days. Bruno Fernandez also achieved a distinguished number, as he participated so far in five goals in three matches, scoring 2 and making three others, which is the most with one copy of a player. Portuguese since Eusébio and Jose Torres in the 1966 tournament.

The young player Gonzalo Ramos achieved several records, the first of which was his first goal in the knockout rounds after only 17 minutes, while Cristiano did not score during the 514 minutes he played in the World Cup knockout matches, and Ramos became the first player to score a “hat-trick” in knockout matches since 1990, when he scored Thomas Skoharvey in the Czechoslovakia national team match against Costa Rica 4-1 in the round of 16, and Ramos became the first player to score a "hat-trick" in his first starter match, since Germany's Miroslav Klose in 2002.

As for the Croatian national team, it achieved an exceptional number after defeating Japan with a penalty shootout, as it played the seventh match out of eight matches for the Croatian national team in the knockout rounds, in which it goes to extra runs.

The most prominent numbers of the round of 16:

■ The participating teams in the round of 16 scored 28 goals.

■ The biggest victory was in favor of Portugal over Switzerland 6-1.

■ The matches witnessed 16 yellow cards, while no expulsions occurred.

■ Morocco became the first Arab team and the fourth African team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

■ A single own goal was scored by Enzo Fernandez of Argentina.

■ The first “hat-trick” in the 2022 World Cup was scored by Portugal player Goncalo Ramos in Switzerland.

■ All of the group stage winners qualified for the quarter-finals, with the exception of Japan.

■ Group E, from which no team qualified for the quarter-finals, with the exit of Japan and Spain.

■ Group Six qualified for Morocco and Croatia.

To view an electronic supplement .. the World Cup teams,

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