Published On 20 Jun 202620 Jun 2026Ismael Saibari scored the fastest goal of the World Cup 2026 so far after just 71 seconds as Morocco beat Scotland 1-0 to close in on a place in the knockout rounds.Saibari scored in Morocco’s opening 1-1 draw with Brazil last weekend, and his clinical finish with just over a minute gone settled a hard-fought, physical contest at Boston Stadium on Friday.A crowd of 64,146 fans turned up at the venue in Massachusetts, United States.The 25-year-old, who was born in Spain and raised in Belgium, is reportedly on the brink of a $63m 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.With four points from two games, Morocco are now primed to advance to the last 32 as they aim to at least match their historic run to the semifinals in Qatar in 2022.However, it was a sobering evening for Scotland and their army of fans who have taken over Boston during this World Cup, as their team never really tested Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.The laboured 1-0 win over Haiti in their opening game at the same stadium last weekend — which was their first victory at …
