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Nigel de Jong accuses Portugal of being ‘really complacent’ in shock quarter-final loss to Morocco… while Graeme Souness praises Atlas Lions for creating ‘history’ by becoming the first African nation to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Nigel De Jong criticized Portugal for their complacency after Morocco knocked them out of the World Cup on Saturday.
Portugal advanced easily to the quarter-finals with a 6-1 thrashing of Switzerland on Tuesday, but collapsed against Morocco, with Youssef En-Nesyri’s header in the first half sealing a 1-0 victory for the team. North African.
De Jong believes that Portugal fell far short of the standards they achieved against Switzerland, which he attributes to the European team underestimating Morocco.
Morocco achieved a shock victory against Portugal to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup
Nigel De Jong believes Portugal paid the price for being too complacent during the match
“They had a couple of chances, there was a good one for Ramos. This was not the Ramos we saw in the win over Switzerland,” De Jong told ITV.
‘Fernandes had a chance on the edge of the area. There was resilience on the part of Morocco, because every time Portugal was going to pull the trigger they were on them, making it difficult for them. They closed all the time.
‘Portugal had the qualities, but I think they were very accommodating. Maybe they were thinking lightly about Morocco. The approach was not the same as we saw against Switzerland, the high-energy, high-octane approach.’
It was a bitterly disappointing result for Portugal, whose wait for a first World Cup continues, but it was a milestone for Morocco as they became the first African nation to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.
Graeme Souness was full of praise for the Atlas Lions, feeling they handled the occasion well just four days after they eliminated Spain on penalties.
“It’s part of the story,” Souness said.
Youssef En-Nesyri sealed the victory for Morocco with a header past goalkeeper Diogo Costa
Graeme Souness has praised Morocco for managing to hold off Portugal to make history
“I have to be honest, I thought Portugal would have looked at what happened to Spain and said ‘this is not going to be us. We are going to be up front, we have better strikers, we will score goals for them and it could be an easy night.”
But they didn’t do that. When you’re a player on the field, when the ball goes out of play, you get sidetracked and you start to think: “oh no, this is happening”.
‘When the goalkeeper arrives and you’re down 1-0, alarm bells go off in your head. At no time was it the last resort for Morocco. In general, Morocco handled it very well.’
Morocco’s run to the final has not been an easy one after they finished top of a group that included Croatia and Belgium, before eliminating Spain and Portugal.
They have only conceded once in the entire tournament and will now face the winner of Saturday night’s game between England and France for a place in the final.