Printed On 20 Jun 2026
Ismael Saibari scored the quickest objective of the World Cup 2026 thus far after simply 71 seconds as Morocco beat Scotland 1-0 to shut in on a spot within the knockout rounds.
Saibari scored in Morocco’s opening 1-1 draw with Brazil final weekend, and his medical end with simply over a minute gone settled a hard-fought, bodily contest at Boston Stadium on Friday.
A crowd of 64,146 followers turned up on the venue in Massachusetts, United States.
The 25-year-old, who was born in Spain and raised in Belgium, is reportedly on the point of a $63m switch from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven to Bayern Munich.
The standard of his strike previous goalkeeper Angus Gunn confirmed why he’s attracting such curiosity, and it was telling that Scotland lacked the identical high quality within the opposition field — that helps clarify why Morocco are ranked fifth on the earth, and Scotland fortieth.
With 4 factors from two video games, Morocco at the moment are primed to advance to the final 32 as they goal to not less than match their historic run to the semifinals in Qatar in 2022.
Nevertheless, it was a sobering night for Scotland and their military of followers who’ve taken over Boston throughout this World Cup, as their crew by no means actually examined Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
The laboured 1-0 win over Haiti of their opening sport on the similar stadium final weekend — which was their first victory at a World Cup since 1990 — gave them a platform to construct on and cause to consider they’ll progress past the group stage at a World Cup for the very first time.
One other win right here would have secured progress from Group C, however their probabilities of going additional stay up within the air going into their subsequent match in opposition to Brazil in Miami subsequent Wednesday.
Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi went with an unchanged beginning lineup right here following the Brazil conflict, however reverse quantity Steve Clarke made three adjustments.
Clarke sought to strengthen his defence, that means striker Lawrence Shankland dropped out as defender Kieran Tierney got here into the facet to make a again 5.
However that was of little use as Morocco went forward virtually from kickoff.
The help got here from Actual Madrid’s Brahim Diaz, and Grant Hanley performed Saibari onside because the latter latched onto the ball excessive, managed it and rifled excessive into the online.
Morocco, who defeated Scotland 3-0 when the groups met on the 1998 World Cup, threatened to overrun their opponents each time they bought ahead however have been wasteful, with Bilal El Khannouss squandering a superb likelihood on 36 minutes.
Scotland have been as stodgy in assault as they’ve been for a very long time, and it took till first-half stoppage time for them to create something harmful.
That was a cross whipped in from the left by skipper Andy Robertson that John McGinn was unable to make something of, and the opening interval ended with out Bounou needing to make a save.
Morocco hit the woodwork 5 minutes into the second half as Saibari met a cutback by El Khannouss, and his try was deflected onto the bar by Jack Hendry.
Moments later, Gunn made a high quality cease to maintain out an El Khannouss header from a nook taken by Hakimi, who was often booed by the gang.
Morocco however appeared content material to see the sport out and take in what Scotland might throw at them.
Ryan Christie fired over on 64 minutes after being teed up by Scott McTominay, who hit the side-netting late on, however a Scotland objective proved elusive.
Morocco face Haiti in Atlanta on Wednesday, whereas Scotland face Brazil in Miami.
Why was Achraf Hakimi booed?
Morocco’s captain Achraf Hakimi was named within the beginning lineup hours after it was confirmed he should stand trial in France on rape prices.
Loud boos rang out from the Scottish followers when Hakimi’s identify was learn out and each time he touched the ball in the course of the sport.
The Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) defender mentioned in a press release earlier within the day that he confronted trial on a rape cost and welcomed the chance to place throughout his standpoint.
Hakimi had appealed his referral to a legal court docket.
French media reported earlier that the Versailles appeals court docket had rejected the attraction, paving the way in which for his trial in a legal court docket in some unspecified time in the future sooner or later.
“Right this moment, a narrative that isn’t mine is being advised on the expense of my household, my life, and above all, the reality. Generally I really feel like I’ve turn out to be a straightforward goal,” Hakimi wrote in a submit on the social media platform X.
“I’ve been ready for this trial since day one. And now I’m wanting ahead to it. Lastly, I’ll be capable of communicate out.”
