- Safiu Kehinde
Scotland’s hope of securing ticket to the 2026 FIFA World Cup last 32 have been dented as they fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat to Morocco.
The Tartan Terriers were outsmarted by the Moroccans courtesy what had since been considered the fastest goal in the tournament.
Morocco, the surprise semi-finalists four years ago, reportedly bullied the Scots into submission and scoring the winner with Ismael Saibari after 71 seconds of play.
The North African nation, who did not translate their dominance into more goals, now have four points from their two matches and will next play Haiti on Wednesday.
Scotland, with three points from two games, face five-time champions Brazil on the last matchday.
According to Reuters, the top two teams of each group win automatic qualification for the round of 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams.
“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.
Morocco completed a total of 601 passes against Scotland, the most by an African team in a World Cup match on record since 1966.