Scotland and Morocco had possibly the best environment of any match so far at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as a beautiful day in Foxborough, Massachusetts brought a sold-out crowd to Boston Stadium (Gillette Stadium) to see what ended up being a very average game between the teams, but a classic battle of red vs blue in the stands.
Morocco's Ismael Saibari scored within 70 seconds and the Atlas Lions never really looked back. The Scots had issues all game getting into their opponent's half, only starting to find a footing late in the second half of the match as Morocco hunkered down to see out the result.
Still, with stories of Scots, who made up the majority of the Boston crowd, out drinking the city dry and "No Scotland, No Party" becoming a rallying cry, it was hard not to have fun. That isn't even mentioning the scenes of Morocco fans celebrating after their huge win. One that inches them closer to a return to the knockout stages of the tournament after reaching the semifinals in 2022.
Scotland: 0.51 xG, 6 shots, 0 shots on target, 41% possession, 456 passes, 85% pass accuracy, 11 fouls, 2 corners, 1 save
Morocco: 1.17 xG, 12 shots, 2 shots on target, 59% possession, 670 passes, 90% pass accuracy, 9 fouls, 5 corners, 0 saves
Goals:
• Morocco, Ismael Saibari, 2'
Attendance: 64,146
Morocco fast, Scotland toothless
Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi was named in the Starting XI after it was confirmed on Friday that he must go to trial after being accused of raping a woman in France back in 2023. He was booed by a fair number of the crowd.
Scotland went into Tuesday with manager Steve Clarke making three changes to his side to face Morocco. Right-backNathan Patterson, winger Kieran Tierney and midfielder Ryan Christie came into the XI for right-back Aaron Hickey, winger Ben Gannon-Doak, and forward Lawrence Shankland.
Clarke explained that it was to "freshen" his group up, and it would be beneficial to have players like Gannon-Doak come off the bench in the second half.
Those players being gone were felt right away as Scotland had the worst start it could possibly have as Morocco took the lead in the second minute.
A Morocco play that had somewhere north of 10 passes eventually saw Brahim Diaz play set-up man on the right side. He sent a clean pass up the right to Ismael Saibari, playing him in as the forward raced toward the end line. From a difficult angle, he launched the ball into the top netting on the opposite side of goal. scoring the quickest goal of the tournament so far.
Scotland was asleep at the wheel and it never really got better from there.
Morocco should have doubled that lead in the 10th minute, when a chance down the left side saw Morocco play the ball in front of the net. Instead of shooting for a brace, Saibari made the right choice and played a pass to Neil El Aynaoui near the right post.
Completely open, essentially an empty net, but El Aynaoui couldn't control the ball and it trickled out of bounds for a goal kick. The AS Roma player fell to the ground in frustration.
Morocco had the best of the ball control in the first 20 minutes, keeping the ball nearly three-fourths of the time. Scotland had its best look of the half in stoppage time. A series of passes in the Morocco end finally saw a cross played in front of goal, connecting with no one but instead reaching Andy Robertson on the left side. He played the ball in to the far post, where John McGinn lifted a leg to redirect the ball, but instead sent it out of play.
Scotland had nearly zero progressive ball movement ability in the first half. Forward Ché Adams was invisible, finishing the game with only 11 touches before he subbed off.
El Aynaoui in control
While that missed chance on goal was rough, El Aynaoui's work in the midfield for Morocco was phenomenal. Playing the ball to both sides, controlling a lot of the tempo, and frustrating Scotland overall.
Despite missing an open goal early in this game, Roma's 24-year-old had a keen ability to get the ball in the midfield and play it cleanly across the board. He finished the match completing 76 of his 80 attempted passes (95%), played seven passes into the final third, and added nine defensive contributions to boot.
The summation of events can best be described as this: El Aynaoui would hold up play in the midfield and be given space to work by a Scotland defensive line playing way too far back. He'd link up with the likes of Brahim Díaz or Azzedine Ounahi. The ball would eventually reach Saibari up top.
Saibari more often than not would pass off rather than shoot, and his teammates' attempts could not find their way to Angus Gunn or around his netting. El Aynaoui is going to continue being a huge cog for this Moroccan side, one that might fly under the radar while not usually appearing on the scoresheet.
Lilia Habboul
Scottish penalty shout
While Scotland attempted to make changes in the second half, nothing seemed to click. AFC Bournemouth attacking midfielder Ben Gannon-Doak joined the clash in the 60th minute, followed by Kenny McLean and Lyndon Dykes. All three were attacking substitutions, representing a shift of strategy for Scotland coach Steve Clarke.
Still the Scots struggled to move forward. More possession and a high presence in the opposing end gave the Europeans a higher expected goals (xG) number (0.34) than their opponents in the second half. However, of the four shots Scotland took, none were on target.
All that said, the biggest chance for Scotland may have been one that never came. In the 81st minute, Scott McTominay tried to push into the box with three Moroccan defenders around him. Trying to set up for a shot, it appeared Neil El Aynaoui, once again part of the story, brought the midfielder down in the penalty area.
Quickly, though, referee Ilgiz Tantashev shut down Scotland's appeals and no VAR check was made. The majority of the Boston crowd was audibly frustrated by the decision, as well.
McTominay, lying on his back in front of goal, lifted his head up and looked astonished no call was given. Former referee and current president/general manager of USL Super League side Tampa Bay Sun FC, Christina Unkel, was on the ITV broadcast of the match, where she said VAR not taking an extra look was the wrong call.
“The first thing you are looking for as a (Video Assistant Referee) is if there is any touch on that ball, and the answer is no,” she said on the broadcast. “We saw that second replay there; that was exactly what I was looking for. There was no contact on the ball whatsoever."
“There is a trip up coming from behind that does contact his left lower leg. For this, I do think this is a missed incident for VAR to not recommend that for a penalty and the referee to not make the decision on the field for a penalty. I know this referee is calling a more physical game, but this is a very clear penalty," Unkel said.
The Scenes: Incredible
Compared to NY/NJ Stadium in East Rutherford, Boston is a completely different vibe.
U.S. Route 1 became a merging point of sorts, with car and foot traffic making their way north towards the stadium. The four lane road was altered to become three lanes in one direction, and the car traffic all flowed. You had cars of various fan bases cheering one another, rolling windows down, blasting music.
The closer you got, the more the foot traffic picked up, with fans parked in nearby local lots or just trekking it from distance. You could watch a Moroccan group see a pickup truck of Scots, before cheering one another on.
The energy around the stadium for kickoff felt like a fever pitch. Even in the enclosed press box of the stadium, the national anthems of both countries were loud.
Scots were the majority of the crowd, but after the final whistle the place seemingly turned into Casablanca. The mass gathering of Moroccan supporters who didn't want to leave, blocking off sections of the concourse to celebrate one another — you couldn't imagine the emotional output. You might not understand the language, but even some of the disappointed Scots leaving the game couldn't help but hug and shake the hands of the cheering crowd.
Credit: Michael Battista
Where Group C stands
Both Group C deciding matches will take place below the Mason-Dixon Line on Wednesday, June 24 at 6:00 pm ET. Scotland will face Brazil in Miami, Florida, while Morocco faces Haiti in Atlanta, Georgia.
Haiti is already eliminated from knockout-round contention, with losses to Scotland and Brazil under their belt. Two losses means at most they can earn three points by beating Morocco. Even then, the only other team with three points is Scotland, who have the head-to-head tiebreaker over them.
That leaves three teams and two confirmed spots in the Round of 32, plus one potential spot for a third-place team.
Morocco should have no issues against Haiti, who lost 3-0 to Brazil on Friday night in Philadelphia and haven't scored a goal in the competition. That leaves Scotland vs Brazil as the king maker.
If Brazil wins, they'll have first dibs to win the group based on goal differential since the South Americans and Morocco tied last Saturday in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Scotland would be a third-place team, though their fate would be uncertain considering their low number of points. That said, even three points could be enough to be in the top eight out of 12 third-place teams.
If Scotland pulls out a shock upset win over Brazil, they'll likely finish second in the group and advance to the knockout stages for the first time ever. Morocco, again with a win over Haiti, would finish first based on this head-to-head win over Scotland. Brazil would finish third with four points, which would almost certainly be enough to advance to the Round of 32.
Of note, the winner and runner-up of Group C will face off against the opposite of Group F, which is a toss up currently featuring the Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, and Tunisia.
