Doha - (AFP) - The Moroccan national team's defense was one of the stars of the Qatar World Cup 2022 in football, imposing a steel dam in front of global attackers from the group stage to the knockout stages, but in the sixth match it was burdened by injuries and the realism of France to bow and bid farewell from the semi-final.

The two defense poles, captain Roman Sayes and Nayef Akrad, along with full-backs Naseer Mazraoui (Bayern Munich, Germany) and Ashraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), formed a wonderful wall in front of the brilliant goalkeeper Yassine Bono (Sevilla, Spain).

The story of the clean sheet began in the first match against Croatia, when the “Atlas Lions” scored a goalless equalizer, in their second attempt to skip the group stage after 1986.

At Al-Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, north of the capital, Doha, left-back Mazraoui suffered an injury to his side when he hit a rebound from goalkeeper Dominic Levakovic, while right-back Hakimi felt pain in his thigh and completed the match.

But the second appearance was more effective, as the sons of coach Walid Regragui defeated Belgium 2-0, in a match in which the specter of injuries appeared, with goalkeeper Bono forced to withdraw despite standing with his colleagues when the national anthem was played, so Munir Al-Mohammadi replaced him and kept his net clean.

The third match was the only one Morocco conceded during the group stage. After a two-goal lead over Canada, West Ham defender Akard accidentally converted a ball that hit the red team's net for the first time.

The wonderful story of Morocco's defense left its glorious pages for the knockout rounds, so the iron quartet, with the help of needles and painkillers, kept a clean sheet against Spain's tiki-taka, and was lifted in a penalty shootout by the smiling and cold-blooded goalkeeper Bono.

Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi-finals, after a successful and clean-sheet battle against Portugal.

Despite this, the beautiful surprise was in the emergence of their two substitutes, Yahya Atiyatallah (Wydad Casablanca) and Jawad Al-Yamiq (Valladolid, Spain). Striker Youssef Al-Nusairi, with his head high above sea level, and with a very beautiful pass from defender Atiyatallah, led his country to the last square, paralleling Bono's brilliance in front of Joao. Felix and substitute Cristiano Ronaldo, while Al-Yamiq stood as a strong barrier against the attacks of Goncalo Ramos and Ronaldo.

A confrontation during which Besiktas' Turkish defense captain, Sayes, suffered a thigh injury he was suffering from against Spain, forcing him to leave his place for French Brest defender Ashraf Dari in the 57th minute.

"We do not know the chances of the players Nasir Mazraoui, Nayef Akrad and captain Roman Sayes to play the next match," Regragui said in the press conference after the historic qualification to the semi-finals after the victory over Portugal.

"Mezraoui is sick and Kurd is injured, now Sayes is injured," Rekragui added, noting that "Hakimi started the competition and he is not in good condition, but he is fighting and is present in every match."

He continued, "But what I have to say is that every day you lose one player and gain another. I have 26 players and if you want to win this competition you have to trust everyone and when one player gets injured or sick you have to push another player."

And he added, "What (Yahya) Atiyatallah, (Jawad) Al-Yamiq, (Badr) Bannoun and (Ashraf) Dari did today is a wonderful thing, and what many players did who did not start this championship either, and thank God we are fortunate that our morale is good, and I hope to return Naseer and Akred to the squad for their great importance in my tactical plan and sais as well.

Once again, Akrad's name appeared on the semi-final paper against France, but at the last moment, as Bono missed the second match, his name was withdrawn in favor of Dari.
A defensive gap at the start of the match against the star of the match, Antoine Griezmann, resulted in a quick goal by French defender Theo Hernandez in the fifth minute.

Captain Romain Sayes limped off and asked to be substituted, so he left in the 21st minute and midfielder Salim Amlah entered in his place.

Regragui changed his formation from five defenders to four, and it was further damaged by Mazraoui's exit at half-time.

Despite all this, Morocco held out and posed a threat to Loris' goal with shots and free kicks by Ziyech and acrobatics in the post, until the matter was decided by the second goal of substitute Randall Kolo Mwani.

Morocco's iron defense finally surrendered and bid farewell with its head held high.