{"id":63024,"date":"2025-10-16T20:27:41","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T20:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final"},"modified":"2025-10-16T21:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T21:04:30","slug":"moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final","title":{"rendered":"Morocco&#8217;s Atlas Cubs Reach U-20 World Cup Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span><b>In a match filled with drama, resilience, and sheer determination, Morocco&#8217;s Under-20 team has carved its name into the history books, defeating France in a penalty shootout to advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup final for the first time ever.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>The Atlas Cubs seized the initiative early, with Yasser Zabbiri converting a 32nd-minute penalty. France&#8217;s Michel equalized in the 59th minute, setting up a tense battle.<\/p>\n<p>The match&#8217;s momentum shifted dramatically when Moroccan goalkeeper Benshaouch was injured, forcing substitute Ibrahim Gomez into a crucial role.<\/p>\n<p>The drama escalated in extra time when France&#8217;s Zwingola received a red card, giving Morocco a numerical advantage they pressed but couldn&#8217;t convert, leading to the fateful penalty shootout.<\/p>\n<p><b>Heroes across the pitch<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Morocco\u2019s victory was a collective triumph. From Zabbiri\u2019s cool finish to the resilient defending after the goalkeeper substitution, the team displayed immense character.<\/p>\n<p>Substitute goalkeeper Gomez held firm against French pressure, ultimately contributing to the historic 5-4 penalty victory that sent the entire nation into celebration.<\/p>\n<p><b>A Final for the ages<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Morocco\u2019s incredible journey\u2014topping a group featuring Spain and Brazil, then defeating South Korea, the USA, and now France\u2014culminates in a final against a formidable Argentina.<\/p>\n<p>The Argentines, aiming for a seventh title, edged Colombia 1-0 and have been dominant throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>This sets the stage for a thrilling championship clash between an unstoppable force and a history-making underdog.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Lesotho<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. In a match filled with drama, resilience, and sheer determination, Morocco&#8217;s Under-20 team has carved its name into the history books, defeating France in a penalty shootout to advance to the FIFA U-20 World Cup final for the first time ever. The Atlas Cubs seized the initiative early, with Yasser Zabbiri converting [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":63023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[5518,2555,1555,245,239],"class_list":["post-63024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-chile","tag-football-world-cup","tag-france","tag-lesotho","tag-morocco"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Morocco&#039;s Atlas Cubs Reach U-20 World Cup Final - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In a match filled with drama, resilience, and sheer determination, Morocco&#039;s Under-20 team has carved its name into t ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Morocco&#039;s Atlas Cubs Reach U-20 World Cup Final\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a match filled with drama, resilience, and sheer determination, Morocco&#039;s Under-20 team has carved its name into t ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-16T20:27:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-16T21:04:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/10\/sm_1760635979.538386.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Morocco&#8217;s Atlas Cubs Reach U-20 World Cup Final\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-16T20:27:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-16T21:04:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final\"},\"wordCount\":260,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/10\/sm_1760635979.538386.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Chile\",\"Football World Cup\",\"France\",\"Lesotho\",\"Morocco\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/moroccos-atlas-cubs-reach-u-20-world-cup-final\",\"name\":\"Morocco's Atlas Cubs Reach U-20 World Cup Final - 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