EDUCATION CITY, Qatar — Yassine Bounou was the last one to leave the Morocco dressing room, clearly exhausted mentally but with a huge smile on his face. And because Bounou (or Bono) is one of the nicest guys in football, his evening was not done just yet. Two hours after his team’s historic victory against Spain, he was still giving interviews to pretty much anyone who was asking for one. For radio, for TV, for written press, in English, in Spanish, in Arabic, in French. Every time, he recalled his incredible heroics during the penalty shootout.
“It was incredible,” he told ESPN. “It is a historical moment. I hadn’t even prepared for the shootout that much. There was so much pressure in the game so I just tried to enjoy it.
“For the penalties, it is about instinct, a bit of luck and that’s it, there is not much else.”
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And every time he speaks, his gentle voice and his big grin highlight once more what this historic FIFA World Cup result means to him, to his teammates, and to their people.
“We are so happy for the fans, for our people, for our families,” he said. “We are starting to realise what this win represents for Morocco but also all around the world. We felt the incredible support from our fans and we used it today.”
Whether Morocco beat Portugal in the quarterfinals or not, Bounou will be a hero forever. The Atlas Lions have reached the last eight of a World Cup for the first time, and it is mostly thanks to him. He stopped the penalties from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets, and if Pablo Sarabia‘s spot-kick hadn’t hit the post, Bounou had dived the right way anyway and would have saved it had it been on target.
