Morocco beat Scotland to close on World Cup knockouts

Ismael Saibari scored the fastest goal of the World Cup so far after just 71 seconds as Morocco beat Scotland 1-0 on Friday to close in on a place in the knockout rounds.

Saibari scored in Morocco’s opening 1-1 draw with Brazil last weekend and his clinical finish with just over a minute gone settled a hard-fought, physical contest watched by a crowd of 64,146 at the Gillette Stadium near Boston.

The 25-year-old, who was born in Spain and raised in Belgium, is reportedly on the brink of a 55 million-euro ($63m) transfer from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven to Bayern Munich.

The quality of his strike past goalkeeper Angus Gunn showed why he is attracting such interest, and it was telling that Scotland lacked the same quality in the opposition box — that helps explain why Morocco are ranked fifth in the world, and Scotland 40th.

With four points from two games, Morocco are now primed to advance to the last 32 as they aim to at least match their historic run to the semi-finals in Qatar in 2022.

However, it was a sobering evening for Scotland and their army of fans who have taken over Boston during this World Cup, as their team never really tested Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.

The laboured 1-0 win over Haiti in their opening game at the same stadium last weekend — which was their first victory at a World Cup since 1990 — gave them a platform to build on and reason to believe they can progress beyond the group stage at a World Cup for the very first time.

Another win here would have secured progress from Group C, but their chances of going further remain up in the air going into their next match against Brazil in Miami next Wednesday.

Morocco, whose captain Achraf Hakimi started hours after it was confirmed he must stand trial in France on rape charges, face Haiti in Atlanta next.

Scots lack cutting edge 

Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi went with an unchanged starting line-up here following the Brazil clash, but opposite number Steve Clarke made three changes.

Clarke sought to reinforce his defence, meaning striker Lawrence Shankland dropped out as defender Kieran Tierney came into the side to make a back five.

But that was of little use as Morocco went ahead practically from kick-off.

The assist came from Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz and Grant Hanley played Saibari onside as the latter latched onto the ball over the top, controlled and rifled high into the net.

Morocco, who defeated Scotland 3-0 when the teams met at the 1998 World Cup, threatened to overrun their opponents every time they got forward but were wasteful, with Bilal El Khannouss squandering a good chance on 36 minutes.

Scotland were as stodgy in attack as they have been for a long time, and it took until first-half stoppage time for them to create anything dangerous.

That was a cross whipped in from the left by skipper Andy Robertson that John McGinn was unable to make anything of, and the opening period ended without Bounou needing to make a save.

Morocco hit the woodwork five minutes into the second half as Saibari met a cutback by El Khannouss and his attempt was deflected onto the bar by Jack Hendry.

Moments later Gunn made a fine stop to keep out an El Khannouss header from a corner taken by Hakimi, who was regularly booed by the crowd.

Morocco nevertheless seemed content to see the game out and soak up what Scotland could throw at them.

Ryan Christie fired over on 64 minutes after being teed up by Scott McTominay, who hit the side-netting late on, but a Scotland goal proved elusive.