Record-Breaking Morocco Bag First World Cup…

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Morocco bagged their first win at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after defeating Scotland 1-0 at Gillette Stadium.

Fixture: Scotland v Morocco
Score: 0-1
Goalscorers: Saibari (2′)

The Moroccans kept faith with 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi in midfield after his impressive competitive debut against Brazil last weekend, while Scott McTominay headline Scotland’s starting line-up after the narrow win over Haiti.

The Atlas Lions proved that their fast start against Brazil was no fluke when they opened the scoring after two minutes when Brahim Diaz did well to pick out the run of Ismael Saibari, who sent a superb volley into the top corner for his second goal of the tournament.

Saibari has now scored the fastest goal in the 2026 World Cup, while it’s also Morocco’s fastest goal in tournament history.

Scotland, meanwhile, were quite happy to sit back on soak up the pressure as the Moroccans continued to push for more goals, with Bilal El Khannouss and Diaz causing a lot of problems on the respective flanks throughout the opening 45 minutes.

The encounter opened up after the second period as Morocco went close to doubling their lead seven minutes in but El Khannoussi saw his close-range header saved by Angus Gunn, before Ryan Christie went close with a strike from the edge of the box minutes later.

Steve Clarke’s charges threw numbers forward in the closing stages of the second half in search of the equaliser, with substitute Lyndon Dykes squandering a big chance by heading wide of the upright from John McGinn’s corner.

The Moroccans, however, were able to see out the closing stages of the second half to claim maximum points while Scotland will look ahead to their next clash with Brazil.

With the win, Morocco have now set a new African record by extending their unbeaten run in the group stage phase to six matches (2022 to 2026), surpassing both Cameroon (1982 to 1990) and Senegal (2002 to 2018), who both went five games unbeaten.

Next Fixtures:

Morocco: Haiti

Scotland: Brazil

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