African champions Wydad AD and CONCACAF tournament debutantes Seattle Sounders were both knocked out of the Club World Cup on Sunday morning (AEDT), as first round entrants Al Ahly and AFC affiliates Al-Hilal secured upset victories to set up semi-final outings with heavyweights Real Madrid and Flamengo, respectively.
With the support of the partisan capacity crowd in Rabat for the day's opening match, Morocco's Wydad opened the scoring early in the second-half courtesy of a header from Ayoub El Amloud, before Moroccan World Cup defender Yahya Attiat-Allah hand-balled inside the penalty area in the game's dying minutes - gifting Al Hilal an equaliser as Mohamed Kanno converted from the spot.
Moroccan World Cup midfielder and Wydad captain Yahya Jabrane was shown a second yellow for protesting the decision.
Al-Hilal also went down to 10 men inside the opening minutes of extra-time as goalscorer Kanno was shown a second yellow for a poor challenge - the trial use of FIFA match officials' microphones made audible to the crowd was on full display in the reversal of the initial decision.
With the match finishing at 1-1, Attiat-Allah missed the first attempt for the African champions in the penalty-shoot-out as the Saudi outfit went onto convert all five attempts from the penalty spot.
Musab Al Juwayr netted the winner to put Al Hilal through to the tournament's final four, winning the shoot-out 5-3 and setting up a meeting with CONMEBOL champions Flamengo on Wednesday (AEDT).
In the day's second match, a deflected shot handed Egypt's Al Ahly a late winner as they edged Seattle Sounders 1-0 in their second round encounter to book a semi-final against Real Madrid next week.
Mohamed Afsha's 88th minute rebound, after he had initially struck the woodwork, took a large deflection to win the game for the CAF affiliates after having enjoyed most of the possession in the match.
Dejected Seattle coach Brian Schmetzer lamented being in the midst of the MLS pre-season as they exited their maiden Club World Cup appearance in the second round.
"They put everything into the game. They put everything into preseason," he said.
"I thought we were good. I thought we were evenly matched. A couple of chances. But the deflection on the goal, it's unfortunate."
