Morocco reach historic semis, knock Portugal out of the World Cup

The World Cup of upsets continued to throw up new shockers every day. After favourites Brazil were knocked out of the tournament on Friday, it was the turn for Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal to crash out as they suffered a 0-1 defeat in the hands of jubilant Morocco on Saturday.

Morocco extended their dream run in Qatar and became the first team from Africa ever to reach the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup with the win.

Youssef En-Nesyri's towering header in the 42nd minute was enough for the North African side to send the former European champions Portugal out of the quadrennial tournament.

Portugal started with Ronaldo on the bench again, but brought him on early in the second half after trailing 0-1 at the halftime break. But the resilient Morocco defended with all they had to change the slender lead into a winning one.

Morocco were down by a man in stoppage time when Walid Cheddira was sent off after getting two yellow cards in a minute, but with less than five minutes left in the contest Portugal failed to take advantage of the situation.

Morocco will now face the winners of the last quarter-final between England and France in the last four stages on Thursday.

En-Nesyri leapt high in the air to head home the game's only goal just before half-time at the Al-Thumama Stadium to strike a significant blow against football's established order.

The result will be widely celebrated across Africa and the Arabic-speaking Middle East, desperate to see one of their teams in contention for the biggest prize in football.