Morocco beat Scotland 1–0 as Saibari scores fastest World Cup 2026 goal
Morocco hold onto slender leade despite Scotland’s late charge for an equaliser in Group C match at Boston Stadium. Ismael Saibari scored the fastest goal
Morocco hold onto slender leade despite Scotland’s late charge for an equaliser in Group C match at Boston Stadium. Ismael Saibari scored the fastest goal of the World Cup 2026 so far after just 71 seconds as Morocco beat Scotland 1-0 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 at Boston Stadium on Friday. A crowd of 64,146 fans turned up at the venue in Massachusetts, United States. The 25-year-old, who was born in Spain and raised in Belgium, is reportedly on the brink of a $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 bo 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 semifinals 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. Moroccan coach Mohamed Ouahbi went with an unchanged starting lineup 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 kickoff. 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 it 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.
The BriefWire