Haiti Exits World Cup as Morocco Triumphs Over Scotland

Three teams, Haiti, Scotland, and Australia, have each struggled to break through their opponents’ defenses, ending their matches without a single goal to show for the day.

In a burst of action, Haiti came tantalizingly close to netting their first World Cup goal in over half a century during their game against Brazil. Ricardo Ade’s near-perfect header from a corner forced Brazil’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker into an impressive save, marking a fleeting but hopeful opportunity for the team.

Haiti made its World Cup debut in 1974, where they faced formidable opponents like Italy and Argentina, managing to score against both. Their next opportunity to break their World Cup goal drought will come when they meet Morocco in Atlanta.

Following their defeat, Haiti’s upcoming game against Morocco will also be their concluding match for the 2026 World Cup. As the first team to be eliminated from the tournament, they face an early exit.

With 77 places separating the nations in the FIFA rankings, Brazil quickly took control and thought they had scored when Raphinha fired home, only for the Barcelona winger to be flagged offside.

For Brazil, the match was an opportunity to breathe life into their World Cup campaign and close in on a spot in the last 32. Matheus Cunha scored twice as Brazil eased past Haiti 3-0.

After a much-criticised display in their opening 1-1 draw with Morocco, the five-time world champions underlined the gulf in class against Haiti.

Cunha’s scruffy goal in Philadelphia gave Brazil the lead midway through the first half, and he struck again as Carlo Ancelotti’s side asserted their dominance. Vinicius Junior added a third before the break.

Brazil play Scotland in their final Group C game in Miami on 24 June.

The Selecao currently have the edge over Morocco for top spot on goal difference. If they finish first, they would face the Group F runners-up — likely to be the Netherlands, Japan or Sweden — in the next round.

Despite a US government ban which has prevented fans travelling from Haiti, the Caribbean nation received loud support from the sizeable Haitian diaspora, which filled roughly half of the 68,324 crowd.

Aggrieved at not coming away with a point from their 1-0 loss to Scotland last week, Haiti coach Sebastien Migne urged his players to embrace the opportunity to play Brazil at a World Cup.

It was a sign of what was to come though and Brazil broke the deadlock on 23 minutes.

Cunha sparked the move by winning possession in midfield and, after Vinicius’s shot was parried, he reacted quickest to block Hannes Delcroix’s clearance to send the ball trickling into the net.

Vinicius and Cunha combined again to double the lead, the former slipping his team-mate in behind the Haiti defence to blast in a powerful left-footed shot as he fell to the ground.

Brazil lost Raphinha to injury but scored a third before half-time as Vinicius ran onto Lucas Paqueta’s floated pass and steered through the legs of Johny Placide.

Morrocco scores game’s only goal in first two minutes

Morocco beat Scotland 1-0 in Group C of the World Cup on Friday with Ismael Saibari scoring his second goal in as many games after 71 seconds, leaving the North Africans well placed to advance into the round of 32.

With the game barely underway, Saibari ran on to a pass from Brahim Diaz with Scotland’s defenders left watching and he lashed the ball past goalkeeper Angus Gunn. Morocco looked a class above Scotland for much of the first half.

The 25-year-old, who was born in Spain and raised in Belgium, is reportedly on the brink of a 55 million-euro ($90M) transfer from Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven to Bayern Munich.

The quality of his strike past goalkeeper Angus Gunn showed why he is attracting such interest, and it was telling that Scotland lacked the same quality in the opposition box — that helps explain why Morocco are ranked fifth in the world, and Scotland 40th.

Scotland were as stodgy in attack as they have been for a long time, and it took until first-half stoppage time for them to create anything dangerous.

Although Steve Clarke’s men played with more intensity after the break, it was Morocco who came closest to getting the game’s second goal when an effort by Saibari was deflected on to the bar shortly after the interval.

Morocco have four points after drawing 1-1 with Brazil in their first match and they face Haiti in their final group match.

Scotland have three points after beating Haiti 1-0 last Saturday which might be enough to see them into the World Cup knockout round for the first time.

The Scots will close out their group games against Brazil next Wednesday.

Australia loses with an own goal and a controversial call

Socceroos coach Tony Popovic elected to surprise in the team’s game against the US by starting World Cup goal scorers Nestory Irankunda and Conor Metcalfe on the bench.

The US opened the scoring after an own goal by Australia in the 10th minute, making them the first team in World Cup history to benefit from an opponent’s own goal in two consecutive matches.

In the 44th minute the US scored a second, following a hotly debated call by VAR.

Australia came back stronger in the second half, substituting Jason Geria, Conor Metcalfe and Nestory Irankunda on as Nishan Velupillay, Cam Burgess and Mo Touré went off.

But despite the stronger gameplay, Australia was unable to score.

The US finished with the edge in possession at 56 per cent and both teams managed only two shots on goal.

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