Meet Yassine Bono, first African goalkeeper to keep 4 clean sheets in one World Cup tournament

They say only an outstanding goalkeeper can make his team victorious, and that has been evident in the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup with the performance of Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bono.

To say he has been outstanding will be an understatement, as Yassine Bono has virtually carried his team on his back to become the first African team to play in the semi-final of the FIFA World Cup.

The Atlas Lions of Morocco have conceded only once in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and that was Nayef Aguerd’s own goal against Canada, and despite having a good defensive shape, Bono has answered every call that has been directed towards his goal.

Yassine Bono has so far kept four clean sheets after five games in the 2022 Mundial, thus becoming the first African goalkeeper to achieve this feat since the inception of the competition 92 years ago.

Born in Montreal, Canada, on April 5, 1991, young Yassine Bono relocated to Morocco, the country of his parents, and began his career in football with the youth team of Wydad Casablanca at the age of 8 in 1999.

Club career

He stayed in the Wydad Casablanca academy till he turned 19 when he was drafted into the senior team in 2010 and made his debut in 2011.

Bono spent only two years in the senior team of Wydad before he was scouted and signed by Atlético Madrid in 2012. He spent two years in team B but became a first-team member in 2014.

He didn’t make a single appearance for Atlético Madrid because he spent two years on loan at Real Zaragoza between 2014-2016.

He signed for Girona in 2016 but moved to the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in 2019 on loan, but his deal was made permanent by Sevilla in 2020.

He has made 258 appearances in his club career since 2011 and has scored once as a goalkeeper.

National team

Bono could have opted to play for Canada but having grown up in Morocco, he choose to represent the birth country of his parents, he decided to play for the Atlas Lions.

The Sevilla goalkeeper played in the youth tournaments and was part of the selected 18-man under-23 squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics, but acted as a backup to Mohamed Amsif during the tournament.

He earned his maiden national team call-up in 2013 and had a taste of international football as a second-half substitute in a 2-1 defeat to Tangier.

Bono was also named in the 2018 FIFA World Cup squad in Morocco but didn’t make a single appearance.

He became the first-choice goalkeeper under Herve Renard’s for the 2019 AFCON in Egypt, keeping clean sheets in 1–0 wins over Namibia and the Ivory Coast to qualify for the last 16 and he has been the first-choice for Morocco since then.

Bono has now made 50 appearances for the Atlas Lions of Morocco since making his debut in 2013 and will make his 51st appearance in the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-final against France.

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