Qatar World Cup 2022 Day 21: Morocco make semi-finals with 1-0 win over Portugal

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Full-time: Morocco 1-0 Portugal

They've done it! Morocco have become the first African or Arab nation to make it to the semi-finals of the World Cup.

Red card for Morocco's Walid Cheddira

Morocco are down a man with five minutes of injury time to ride through, after Cheddira picks up two yellow cards in as many minutes.

Half-time: Morocco 1-0 Portugal 

Youssef En-Neysri is the man of the moment after his header granted Morocco the lead at the tail end of the first half. Dare we dream of a Moroccan victory?

Morocco 1-0 Portugal

After applying a sustained spell of pressure on the Portuguese, Youssef En-Neysri puts Morocco ahead in the 42nd minute.

Lineups: Portugal vs Morocco

The lineups for the Morocco vs Portugal clash have been announced. 

Amrabat and Saiss, Morocco's heroes against Spain, will start the match. 

On the other side, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo has again been left on the bench. 

Morocco lineup: Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, El Yamiq, Amrabat, Attiat Allah, Saiss, Hakim Ziyech, Ounahi, Amallah, Boufal, En-Nesyri

🚨تشكيلة المنتخب الوطني أمام منتخب البرتغال

Quarter-final’s Line-up to face Portugal 🇵🇹#DimaMaghrib 🇲🇦 #TeamMorocco #FIFAWorldCup @pumafootball pic.twitter.com/5RpTXwqjJc

— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) December 10, 2022

Portugal lineup: Costa, Diego Dalot, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Raphael Guerreiro, Otavio, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos

⏲ Chegou a HORA: Este é o nosso 11 Inicial para hoje! 👥🇵🇹 #VesteABandeira

⏲ It's TIME: This is our Starting 11 for today! 👥 #WearTheFlag pic.twitter.com/i7N6khiFag

— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) December 10, 2022

Only an hour to go before kickoff!

Morocco is the first Arab country and fourth African country to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup - following  Ghana (2010), Senegal (2002) and Cameroon (1990).

They have played Portugal twice in the past, with each side registering a win.

Morocco's World Cup success inspires a nation to dream

Can Morocco dream of World Cup glory? And what impact will the team's success have on the footballing prospects of the region as a whole?

Read sports commentator John Duerden's piece on what the Atlas Lions' World Cup run means to Morocco and the Middle East and North Africa region:

Whole of Africa behind Morocco at World Cup: Regragui

Morocco will have the backing of an entire continent when they attempt to become Africa's first World Cup semi-finalists by beating Portugal on Saturday, said coach Walid Regragui.

"We want to show that Africa deserves to be here, Morocco deserves to be here," Regragui said on the eve of the match.

"We have a whole people behind us, a continent behind us and the Arab world behind us. That's a lot of energy behind us."

Morocco have the best defensive record in the tournament, having conceded only one goal in their four matches.

But Regragui warned: "We can't rest on our laurels. We haven't got carried away, we've just surprised a few people and a few algorithms who expected Belgium or Spain to be in the quarter-finals."