Morocco bully Scotland into submission for 1-0 World Cup win, take control of Group C

FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts: Morocco outmuscled Scotland for a 1-0 win thanks to the tournament's fastest goal on Friday (Jun 19), taking control of Group C in the World Cup and moving into top spot with one match left to play.

The North Africans, surprise semi-finalists four years ago, were in control throughout despite the deceptive scoreline, bullying the Scots into submission and scoring the winner with Ismael Saibari after 71 seconds of play.

Morocco, who did not translate their dominance into more goals, now have four points from their two matches and will next play Haiti on Wednesday. Scotland, with three points from two games, face five-time champions Brazil on the last matchday. Brazil and Haiti face each other later on Friday. 

The top two teams of each group win automatic qualification for the round of 32, along with the eight best third-placed teams.

"We would have liked to score that second goal to be more at ease, but we wanted to keep them really, really high up so they wouldn't get too close to our box," said Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi.

"When it's 1-0 at the end, that's the Scots' quality. But it's okay. That's what I said too: no panic, no panic, we do what needs to be done, we defend, we keep pressing. But we played a great match. We lacked a bit of efficiency."

"We are happy, we keep going. The road is still long, but it was important to win today," he added.

Morocco completed a total of 601 passes against Scotland, the most by an African team in a World Cup match on record since 1966.

The Scots were brimming with confidence after their 1-0 opening win over Haiti for their first World Cup victory in 36 years but were quickly brought down to earth.

Their opponents needed less than two minutes to open their