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Published on: Monday, October 30, 2023 – 11:55 AM | Last updated: Monday, October 30, 2023 – 11:55 AM
One year ago, Moroccan goalkeeper Yacine Bounou was not among the nominees for any individual awards at the world or European continent, but the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has put Bounou in the spotlight.
With Bono’s wonderful performance in the World Cup and his contribution to his country’s reaching the semi-finals of the tournament for the first time in history, Bono entered strongly into the competition for more than one individual award, including the Best Goalkeeper Award in the World, in the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) referendum, in which he reached… Bono was included in the final list of nominees, but Emiliano Martinez, the Argentine national team goalkeeper, won the award.
Now, Bono is facing a strong challenge for a new award; It is the “Yashin Award” presented annually by the sports magazine “France Football” to the best goalkeeper in the world.
Today, Monday, the French capital, Paris, will witness the new edition of the “France Football” magazine ceremony to distribute its annual awards for the year 2023. Several weeks ago, the magazine announced a list of names of candidates to compete for the award.
Bono hopes to crown his distinguished career by winning the prestigious award, which bears the name of one of the most prominent goalkeepers in history, the Russian Lev Yashin.
Although there are many distinguished goalkeepers in Europe and around the world, Bono’s achievements were a strong support and reason for his arrival in the list of candidates to win the award.
Bono played a prominent and pivotal role in the successful and historic march of the Moroccan national team in the 2022 World Cup. The team became the first African and Arab team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup throughout the history of the global tournament.
FIFA noted that Bono, 32 years old, was calm and confident during his participation in the World Cup matches. The team conceded one goal on the way to the semi-finals, before the team lost to its French counterpart, 0-2, in the semi-finals.
After a distinguished performance with the team in the first round, the Moroccan national team’s match against its Spanish counterpart in the second round (round of sixteen) put Bono greatly in the spotlight, as the Moroccan goalkeeper saved two penalty kicks and contributed decisively to the Spanish national team’s elimination from the tournament, in addition to his distinguished display. During the match itself.
Bono repeated the same strong performance in the quarter-final match, with his country beating its Portuguese counterpart 1-0. Romain Saiss, captain of the Moroccan national team, described Bono’s performance as “heroic.”
This strong performance by Bono in the World Cup was an extension of his outstanding level with Sevilla in Spain in 2022. Bono’s brilliance contributed to Sevilla’s defense being the best in the Spanish League in the 2021/2022 season.
Bono was crowned with more than one individual award in the 2021/2022 season after this brilliance with Sevilla. He won the Zamora Award for the best goalkeeper in the Spanish League, and won two awards for the best African player in the middle and at the end of the season, in addition to being selected in the ideal squad for the Spanish League last season.
Months after the completion of the World Cup, Bono led his Spanish team, Sevilla, to win the European League title for the seventh time in its history, with a 4-1 victory on penalties over Italian Roma in the final match of the continental competition.
The match ended in a 1-1 draw, and the two teams decided to go to penalty kicks, which saw Bono excel and save two penalty kicks.
Bono is competing for the Yashin Award with nine other goalkeepers on the list announced by France Football, led by Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez, Argentine Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid, Spain), Brazilian Ederson (Manchester City, England), and German Marc-Andre ter Stegen (Barcelona, Spain).
2023-10-30 09:55:42
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