Hakimi booed in Boston as Morocco all but guaranteed World Cup knockouts

Morocco all but sealed their place in the last 32 of the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Scotland at Gillette Stadium.

Despite a large contingent of Scotland fans supporting their side, Morocco came racing out with the fastest goal at this World Cup so far, as Ismael Saibari scored after just 69 seconds, smashing a ferocious shot past Angus Gunn.

Inspired by Saibari and Brahim Diaz, Morocco were much the better side in the first half but Scotland rallied to make it a much more competitive game after the break. Despite strong appeals for a penalty for a foul on John McGinn, Scotland could not find a way through.

After their week-long takeover of Boston, Scotland now move to Miami, where they meet Brazil on Wednesday (June 24). Morocco take on Haiti in Atlanta on the same day.

According to The Athletic’s Prediction model, this result means Morocco now have a greater than 99 per cent chance of reaching the round of 32. Scotland may qualify, even if they lose their final match against Brazil, with the model predicting their chances at 72 per cent.

In this first 48-team World Cup, the top two from each of the 12 groups go through, along with the eight best third-placed sides. Morocco now lead Group C with four points, ahead of Scotland on three (Brazil play Haiti in the later game on Friday).

The group winners will face the runners up in Group F in Houston while the runners up will head to Monterrey in Mexico, to face the winners of Group F. Both those games take place in June 29. A potential third-placed qualifier’s route depends on permutations in other groups.

The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell and Phil Hay dissect the key talking points.

Scotland fans boo Achraf Hakimi

Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi was booed by a large contingent of Scotland supporters almost every time he touched the ball during this game. It started off as a background noise but it soon gathered pace and reverberated around Gillette Stadium.

Achraf Hakimi takes on Andy Roberston (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

When Hakimi went over to take a corner in the 20th minute the boos escalated, and again in the 39th minute when he bundled over Kieran Tierney to deny Scotland a counter-attacking opportunity.

It was confirmed on Friday that Hakimi will stand trial on rape charges.

The accusation relates to an incident alleged to have occurred in February 2023, when a 24-year-old woman claimed Hakimi assaulted her. The player has always denied wrongdoing and said in a statement on X prior to kick-off: “I’ve been waiting for this trial since day one. And now I’m looking forward to it. Finally, I will be able to speak.”

Jordan Campbell

Does Ismael Saibari only score wonder goals?

We keep banging on about this but the standard of goals at the 2026 finals is frankly a joke. And Ismael Saibari seems to be having his own individual goal-of-the-tournament competition.

He drew first blood against Brazil with a lovely chip in Morocco’s first game — the recipient of a killer pass through midfield from Brahim Diaz — and the strike that opened the scoring against Scotland was better again, assisted by the same player.

Saibari and Diaz clearly understand exactly where they are in each other’s orbit. Scotland opened the door by leaving a dog leg in their defence (Grant Hanley deeper than everybody else in the back four) but Diaz timed a floated pass from the touchline nicely, keeping Saibari onside.

Saibari’s touch was deft, and his raking finish across Angus Gunn was too fierce to stop. It’s all the explanation you need for why Bayern Munich are in the process of buying Saibari from PSV. It isn’t often that a World Cup game has part of the crowd chanting ‘ole!’ by minute five.

Phil Hay

Should Scotland have had a penalty?

Chances did not come easily for Scotland, and they were never likely to. With an hour gone, their expected goals (xG) total was sitting at 0.2, minus a shot on target.

In those circumstances, they needed little margins to go for them and their shout for a penalty when John McGinn was challenged by Issa Diop in the 48th minute was a strong one.

McGinn was going down the right side of Morocco’s defence and had slipped the ball in front of Diop as the centre-back ran across to cover. Diop went in with his right leg, failed to connect with the ball and bundled McGinn to the floor with a bump to his hip. The referee waved it away in real time, and VAR wasn’t moved to intervene.

Diop probably got away with one but the same could as easily be said of the ball hitting Grant Hanley’s hand – again, with no consequences – during Scotland’s 1-0 win over Haiti. McGinn’s shout was stronger than a later one from Scott McTominay. As the saying goes, these decisions even themselves out (sometimes).

Phil Hay

Where does this leave Scotland’s chances?

It is a strange place to be in a three-game group that a slender defeat did not feel like a disaster.

“Don’t get humped,” said Steve Clarke before the opening group match.

Scotland did not.

It may seem like a modest objective but that is the mentality this new format fosters, where being the least of the worst third place finishers may be enough.

The objective coming into the tournament was to reach the knockout stage for the first time. With Morocco and Brazil in the world’s top ten, the maths dictated that Haiti was the must-win game.

But whether a win and two defeats would be enough largely depends on how heavily those two defeats are.

The 1-0 loss to Morocco leaves Scotland on three points and a level goal difference.

While four points would virtually guarantee progression, and could still be achieved with a draw against Brazil, this leaves them with a little wriggle room in Miami.

As per The Athletic’s projections model, a 2-0 defeat (leaving them with an overall goal difference of -2) would give a team a 72 percent chance of getting through to the Round of 32.

Scotland would have taken those odds before the tournament but it does lead to a strange mentality where defeat is not terminal.

Jordan Campbell