Late surge sends Morocco into knockouts after Haiti scare

25/06/2026

ATLANTA, June 25 (AP): Soufiane Rahimi and Gessime Yassine came off the bench to help Morocco rally for a 4-2 victory over Haiti and erase the Caribbean nation's hopes of a first-ever point at the World Cup.

Morocco, which became the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals four years ago in Qatar, twice came from behind against a team making its World Cup debut in 52 years.

Rahimi’s deflected shot in the 78th minute put Morocco ahead 3-2, and Yassine killed off any chance of an upset with a goal in the 89th.

Morocco advanced to the round of 32 in second place behind Brazil in Group C and will next play the runner-up in Group F - Netherlands, Japan, or Sweden - in Monterrey. The five-time champion Brazilians beat Scotland 3-0 in the other group match.

"At times we lacked humility and paid the price for it," Morocco midfielder Bilal El Khannouss said. "We weren’t fully committed in the duels; we gave them confidence and allowed them to grow into the game and score twice. At halftime, the coach told us we needed to be more aggressive, win the second balls, and bring greater intensity to our attacking play.”

Morocco, which won the most recent Africa Cup of Nations, has ambitions to go deep again after making history at the last World Cup. But the team was given a scare by Haiti, which took a surprise lead in the 10th minute with a goal that was more than five decades in the making.

Lenny Joseph’s back-heeled flick at the near post went in off the back of Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou for the country's first World Cup goal since Emmanuel Sanon in 1974, Haiti's only other appearance at the tournament. Bounou was officially credited with an own-goal on the play.