Issa Diop spent years waiting for a country that would finally call him. Ismael Saibari built his career inside the country he had just helped eliminate. On Monday night in Monterrey, those two men were the difference.
Morocco beat the Netherlands 3-2 on penalties, after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes, to reach the World Cup round of 16 for the second tournament running. They will face Canada on July 4.
Diop had never scored for Morocco before. Born in Toulouse to a Senegalese father and a Moroccan mother, he came through France’s youth ranks and kept hoping his country would eventually call him up. It never did. He made his Morocco debut in March, four years into a Premier League career that had taken him from West Ham to Fulham, the decision landing in the middle of a real dispute between the two countries of his parents’ birth over a stripped Africa Cup of Nations title.
In the 91st minute, playing for Morocco, a country he’d waited years to choose, and two minutes from elimination, he rose above Virgil van Dijk at a corner and powered a header past Bart Verbruggen that the goalkeeper never got close to. It was the first international goal of his career.