North African nation Morocco has progressed to the quarterfinals of the FIFA U20 World Cup after a 2-1 triumph over Korea Republic in the early hours of Friday morning in Rancagua, Chile.

Morocco remains the only team in the tournament from the continent after South Africa, Nigeria, and Egypt suffered exits.

An own goal by Shin Minha and a second-half strike by Yassir Zabiri were enough to see Morocco through to the last eight of the tournament.

“It was a tough match. I’m happy that the team and the staff were able to bounce back from that defeat against Mexico. Now, I’m going to focus on the next match,” said Morocco coach Othmane Maamma.

“You have to always think about that in your head and keep going until the end. We have to focus on training and see what we did well today, and we’ll see (how far we can go).”

Morocco will take on the United States in the quarterfinals also set for Rancagua on Sunday, 12 October.

Morocco could be considered one of the favourites to win the tournament after upsetting Brazil and Spain to top Group C before knocking out the Republic of Korea.