By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Morocco secured a hard fought 1-0 victory against Scotland on Friday to keep alive their chances of advancing to a second straight knockout round.
Barely a minute was enough time for Ismael Saibari to get on scoreboard in his second outing. Saibari drilled a shot into the top corner of the net a mere 72 seconds at Gillette Stadium.
Steve Clarke shuffled his pack from Saturday’s victory against Haiti, with Celtic defender Kieran Tierney starting on the left of midfield in an apparent attempt to man-mark Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi. That plan was pulled apart, though.
Morocco, which reached the semifinals at the last World Cup in Qatar, drew 1-1 with Brazil in its Group C opener with Saibari scoring the lone goal. Scotland, which hasn’t gotten out of the group stage in its eight previous World Cup appearances, beat Haiti 1-0 in its first match.
As Scotland pressed for an equalizing goal in the closing minutes, Morocco had a pair of good chances to add to their lead, but both missed the target.
Morocco completed a total of 601 passes against Scotland, the most by an African team in a World Cup match on record since 1966.
“We would have liked to score that second goal to be more at ease, but we wanted to keep them really, really high up so they wouldn’t get too close to our box,” said Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi.
“When it’s 1-0 at the end, that’s the Scots’ quality. But it’s okay. That’s what I said too: no panic, no panic, we do what needs to be done, we defend, we keep pressing. But we played a great match. We lacked a bit of efficiency.”
“We are happy, we keep going. The road is still long, but it was important to win today,” he added.
Scotland will face Brazil in its final Group C match on Wednesday in Miami Gardens, Florida. Morocco will take on Haiti at the same time in Atlanta.