Monterrey, June 30 (IANS) Morocco booked their place in the Round of 16 of the FIFA World Cup 2026 after a dramatic penalty shootout victory over the Netherlands here at Monterrey Stadium on Tuesday.

After 120 minutes of intense tactical battle ended 1-1, the Atlas Lions held their nerve from the spot to win 3-2 on penalties and continue their remarkable World Cup journey.

It’s the Dutch that made the breakthrough when Cody Gakpo broke the deadlock in the 72nd minute. A wonderful run and off-balance touchback across the face of goal from Crysencio Summerville to tee up Gakpo, who swept home.

Gakpo now has become the joint-second top goalscorer, with six goals, for the Netherlands at the World Cup. He sits behind only Johnny Rep, who scored seven between 1974 (four goals) and 1978 (three goals).

But, there was late drama as Morocco struck back with a 91st-minute leveller when central defender Issa Diop found himself in an advanced position to head home substitute Chemsdine Talbi’s cross at the start of additional time.

An absorbing 120 minutes in Monterrey failed to produce a regulation or extra-time winner in a match of ebbs and flows. For the second straight fixture, penalty kicks were needed to split the teams.

During the penalty kicks, both nations missed one of their first two attempts, scored their third and then missed the fourth. That meant it was sudden death, where Yassine Bounou saved Crysencio Summerville’s shot, and Ismael Saibari converted his to win it.

There, Yassine Bounou became the hero in the shootout, saving from Summerville after both teams missed twice from the spot before Saibari converted the decisive penalty to book a Round of 16 clash with World Cup co-hosts Canada in Houston on July 5.

–IANS

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