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Morocco concluded its group stage participation with a resounding 4-2 victory against Haiti this Wednesday at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, in a match that had it all: an own goal, a comeback, a tie at halftime, and total dominance in the second half.
With the result, the Moroccans as second in Group C with 7 points.
The match started in the worst possible way for Morocco: goalkeeper Bono scored an own goal in the 10th minute and handed the advantage to the Caribbean team.
Far from falling apart, the Africans responded with Achraf Hakimi, who equalized at the 39th minute with a goal that restored calm to his team.
However, Wilson Isidor put Haiti ahead again in the 43rd minute, creating a highly tense end to the first half.
It was Ismael Saibari who rescued Morocco before halftime, scoring at the 45' mark to level the score at 2-2 when the referee blew the whistle.
Saibari arrived at the match with a remarkable scoring record in this World Cup: he had scored against Brazil in the 21st minute during the 1-1 draw on June 13, and he had netted the fastest goal of the tournament just two minutes into the 1-0 victory over Scotland on June 19.
Its presence in Haiti confirmed its leading role in the Moroccan campaign.
In the second half, Morocco came out to assert control over the match. The coach made a triple substitution in the 70th minute that proved decisive: Soufiane Rahimi, who had just come on, scored the 3-2 in the 78th minute to break the tie.
Eight minutes later, Ghailan Yassine, another substitute who came on during that same change, sealed the match with the 4-2 at the 89th minute.
The match statistics reflect Morocco's dominance from start to finish: 70% possession compared to Haiti's 30%, 22 shots against five, and 11 shots on target compared to just one from the opponent. Morocco took nine corners while Haiti had none.
The Caribbean players accumulated 18 fouls —double that of the Moroccans— and received three yellow cards in the final minutes: Nazon and Placide at the 79th minute, and Casimir at the 90th.
With two victories and one draw, Morocco finishes with six goals for and three against.
Nonetheless, Brazil —which defeated Scotland 3-0 at the same time in Miami— finishes at the top of the group with the same 7 points but a superior goal difference (+6 compared to +3), which allows Morocco to advance as the second team.
For Haiti, the outcome concludes a historic yet painful participation. The Caribbean team returned to the World Cup after 52 years of absence since Germany 1974, having secured their qualification by defeating Nicaragua 2-0 on November 18, 2025, in the CONCACAF qualifiers. However, the three consecutive defeats—against Scotland, Brazil, and Morocco—leave them with zero points, two goals for and eight against, resulting in their elimination in the group stage.
Scotland, with 3 points after winning one and losing one in their two matches played, remains a possible best third-place team awaiting the results of the other groups in the tournament.
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