{"id":418309,"date":"2026-06-25T08:13:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/?p=418309"},"modified":"2026-06-25T08:13:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T08:13:31","slug":"morocco-come-back-after-historic-haiti-goals-to-reach-world-cup-last-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/2026\/06\/25\/morocco-come-back-after-historic-haiti-goals-to-reach-world-cup-last-32\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco come back after historic Haiti goals to reach World Cup last 32"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite bowing out without a point in their first World Cup since 1974, Haiti twice led against 2022 semifinalists Morocco.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morocco twice overcame the shock of conceding to Haiti to win a World Cup thriller 4-2 in Atlanta, but missed out on the top spot in Group C to Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haiti bowed out with their first World Cup goals in 52 years, as a Yassine Bounou own goal and Wilson Isidor\u2019s stunning strike twice gave them the lead on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Achraf Hakimi and Ismael Saibari, with his third goal in as many games at the World Cup, levelled before half-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soufiane Rahimi was nearly brought to tears when the 30-year-old\u2019s deflected effort found the top corner to give Morocco the lead, before Gessime Yassine rounded off the scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Morocco missed out on the top spot in the group to Brazil on goal difference, meaning they will head to Monterrey for a likely meeting against the Netherlands or Japan on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite bowing out without a point, Haiti\u2019s performances at their first World Cup since 1974 have done a nation gripped by poverty proud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Les Grenadiers were already eliminated after losing to\u00a0Scotland\u00a0and\u00a0Brazil, but the thousands of Haitian expats in the stands in Atlanta were undeterred as every attack was met with deafening cheers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morocco boss Mohamed Ouahbi made four changes to the side that had impressed in holding Brazil and beating Scotland in their opening two games, and the Atlas Lions started sloppily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Haiti\u2019s long wait for a goal on the global stage was ended after just 10 minutes, when Jean-Kevin Duverne got to the byline, and Lenny Joseph flicked the resulting cross into the net via a deflection off Bounou.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hakimi has continued to captain Morocco despite learning mid-tournament that he is to\u00a0face a trial on rape charges\u00a0in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reigning African footballer of the year stormed forward from right-back at every opportunity and was in the right place to equalise on 39 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his final game for Haiti, 38-year-old goalkeeper Johny Placide could only parry Bilal El Khannouss\u2019s strike, and Hakimi had a simple task to force the ball over the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within four minutes, though, Haiti had restored their lead in far more spectacular fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunderland striker Isidor pounced on a loose ball and let fly from outside the area with a shot that arrowed into the top corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hakimi and Ouahbi were visibly angered by conceding for a second time, but the 2022 World Cup semifinalists responded before half-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saibari stroked home his third goal of the tournament with a cool finish from Hakimi\u2019s low cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brahim Diaz nearly gave Morocco a half-time lead when his curling effort shaved the post to end a thrilling first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With\u00a0Brazil cruising to victory over Scotland\u00a0in Miami, Morocco knew that only a comprehensive victory would secure them the top spot in Group C.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ouahbi began turning his attention to the last 32, as Bayern Munich-bound Saibari and Real Madrid\u2019s Diaz were replaced with more than 20 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But two of his substitutes came on to win the game for Morocco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rahimi\u2019s powerful strike from a corner flew into the top corner via a deflection off a desperate Haiti defender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then turned provider by robbing possession on the Haiti byline and crossing for Yassine to roll into an empty net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite bowing out without a point in their first World Cup since 1974, Haiti twice led against 2022 semifinalists Morocco. Morocco twice overcame the shock of conceding to Haiti to win a World Cup thriller 4-2 in Atlanta, but missed out on the top spot in Group C to Brazil. Haiti bowed out with their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12903],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-418309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-12903"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":418310,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418309\/revisions\/418310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/6gnx6dd.cc\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}