06/24/26 07:21:00
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06/24 19:19 CDT Soufiane Rahimi and Gessime Yassine help Morocco rally to beat
Haiti 4-2 at the World Cup
Soufiane Rahimi and Gessime Yassine help Morocco rally to beat Haiti 4-2 at the
World Cup
By JAMES ROBSON
AP Soccer Writer
ATLANTA (AP) --- Soufiane Rahimi and Gessime Yassine came off the bench to help
Morocco rally for a 4-2 victory over Haiti on Wednesday and erase the Caribbean
nation's hopes of a first ever point at the World Cup.
Morocco, which became the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals
four years ago in Qatar, twice came from behind against a team playing on
soccer's biggest stage for the first time in 52 years.
Rahimi's deflected shot in the 78th minute put Morocco ahead 3-2 and Yassine
killed off any chance of an upset with a goal in the 89th.
Morocco advanced to the round of 32 in second place behind Brazil in Group C.
The five-time champion Brazilians beat Scotland 3-0 in the other group match.
Morocco, which won the most recent Africa Cup of Nations, has ambitions go deep
again this year. But it was given a scare by Haiti, which is 74 places below
Morocco in the FIFA rankings.
Haiti took a surprise lead in the 10th minute with a goal that was more than
five decades in the making.
Lenny Jospeh's back-heeled flick at the near post beat Morocco goalkeeper
Yassine Bounou and he became his country's first scorer at a World Cup since
Emmanuel Sanon in 1974, which was Haiti's only other appearance at the
tournament.
Morocco pushed for an equalizer and Achraf Hakimi finally got it in the 39th
minute. Haiti keeper Johny Placide managed to get a hand to Bilal El Khannouss'
deflected cross, but couldn't prevent Hakimi from bundling the ball over the
line.
Although Morocco looked to be ready to explode for more goals, it was Haiti
that again took the lead four minutes later when Wilson Isidor scored from
outside the box with a shot that flew into the top corner.
There was still time for another goal at the end of a thrilling half with
Ismael Saibari sweeping Hakimi's cross past Placide in stoppage time to make it
2-2 at the break.
It was Saibari's third goal of the tournament.
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James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson
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AP World Cup: https://apnews.com/fifa-world-cup
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