Morocco made World Cup history on Saturday as they became the first African football team to qualify for the semi-final round of the tournament after defeating Portugal 1-0 in their quarter-final fixture in Qatar.

The Moroccans who were already making history for the country’s football by reaching the quarterfinals for the first time added a new chapter in African Football with the scalp of the former European champions.

Morocco’s previous highest finish was in the quarterfinals during the Mexico 1986 tournament.

Yousseff En-Nesyri’s 42nd-minute goal for Morocco will now be forever remembered which breached the ceiling of world football and teams from the continent.

Before Saturday’s dramatic result only three African teams came close before falling to the quarterfinal stage of the tournament.

Teams including Cameroon in 1990, Senegal’s memorable 2002 team most known for beating then champions France in the group stage while Ghana came within seconds of history, in 2010, before being acrimoniously ousted via penalties.  

Morocco who showed signs of their quality after dismissing Belgium 2-0 on their way to surprisingly top their group which also included Cup finalist Croatia raised a few more eyebrows after eliminating former champions Spain in their round of 16 fixture.

Virtually every World Cup there has been an underdog which becomes a giant killer in making their mark on the tournament and Morocco has emerged as this year’s designated anomaly by striking out another football juggernaut from the competition.

They will next face the winner of the France-England semi-final which is also active on the day.