SOUFIANE Rahimi and Gessime Yassine struck late goals for Morocco to secure a 4-2 victory in the early hours of today to deny Haiti their first-ever World Cup point in Atlanta.
Morocco pegged the Caribbean nation back twice – thanks to goals from Achraf Hakimi and Ismael Saibari – before Rahimi scored with 12 minutes to go and Yassine sealed the victory.
The win was not enough for Morocco to top Group C as Brazil comfortably beat Scotland in Miami and the 2022 semi-finalists will now face either the Netherlands, Japan or Sweden in the last 32.
But they did deny Haiti a memorable night – despite the team ranked 83rd in the world taking the lead twice and doubling their total goals tally in the competition’s history.
Haiti were eliminated before their final game of the group stage after defeats by Scotland and Brazil but they managed to get their first World Cup goal in 52 years when Lenny Joseph’s flicked finish came off Morocco keeper Yassine Bounou and found its way into the net.
That 10th-minute opener went down as an own goal to deny Joseph the honour of becoming the first man to join Emmanuel Sanon – who scored twice in 1974 – as a Haiti scorer at the World Cup.
But Paris St-Germain full-back Hakimi pulled Morocco level in the 39th minute, bundling the ball home when Haiti goalkeeper Johny Placide failed to get a strong enough hand to Brahim Diaz’s strike.
Then Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor scored one of the goals of the tournament when he fired into the top corner from 25 yards to spark jubilant scenes among the Haiti fans two minutes before half-time.
But Morocco levelled again in first-half stoppage time as Saibari got his third of the tournament when Hakimi pulled the ball back into his path in a slick move.
Placide – who spent a season at Oldham Athletic in 2017-18 – pulled off a series of saves to deny Morocco but he could do nothing about substitute Rahimi’s effort which deflected off Haiti defender Ricardo Ade.
Yassine then turned home after Rahimi managed to just keep the ball in play – which was confirmed by the video assistant referee – with a minute to go.
In the other match in the group kicking off simultaneously, Scotland’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the World Cup for the first time were dealt a blow after poor defending allowed Brazil to sweep them aside 3-0 in Miami and finish top of Group C.
Steve Clarke’s side knew they could all-but confirm a historic passage out of the group stages with a point against the record tournament winners.
Before the game, the statisticians said a record of three points and a minus three goal difference would give a team a 42% chance of claiming one of the eight best third-placed team spots in the last 32.
But the Scots face an agonising wait until potentially as late as Sunday morning to know their fate as the rest of the groups play their final games.
Should they miss out, they will rue being masters of their own downfall yet again.
Scott McKenna – in for his first start of the finals – hesitated on the ball and was robbed by Bournemouth teenager Rayan. He teed-up Vinicius Jr to one of the game’s most potent forwards gratefully accepted the gift.
The Real Madrid star – who has scored in every group game – thought he had his second when he pick-pocketed Jack Hendry and rolled beyond Angus Gunn.
VAR bailed the Scots out – the officials deciding the defender had been tripped – when they couldn’t help themselves.
Carlo Ancelotti was not a happy man, but his talisman soon had his second, nodding in at the back-post after the feeble Scots failed to clear in first-half stoppage time.
Vinicius Jr could have had a hat-trick. Brazil could have had five.
Brazil were so much in control that they brought on Neymar for his first national team appearance since 2023.
Two soft penalty claims and a Scott McTominay header arrowed at Alisson were forgotten of when Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes dispossessed Kenny McLean, setting up Matheus Cunha to smash home.
With agency reports
