Moroccovs
HaitiThere was a moment, ten minutes in, when 68,239 people inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium might have wondered if something strange was about to happen. Yassine Bounou — Morocco's own goalkeeper — turned a Jean-Kévin Duverne delivery into his own net, and Haiti had the lead. It lasted less than half an hour.
Morocco finished the night 4-2 winners, and the scoreline flatters nobody. Our pre-match read made Morocco the favorite at 74%, and they left little room for doubt once they settled.
The First Half Does Most of the Work
The own goal was the kind of freak moment that can rattle a favorite, and Haiti leaned into it — sitting deep, making life awkward, letting Morocco have the ball in non-threatening areas. For a while, that held. Then Achraf Hakimi broke it open in the 39th minute, finishing without an assist listed — just Hakimi, the ball, and the net. Morocco level, and suddenly Haiti looked fragile.
What followed in the final minutes of the half was the real damage. Jean-Kévin Duverne, who had set up the own goal, turned provider again in the 43rd — this time for Wilson Isidor, who put Haiti back in front. For a few minutes, qué locura, Haiti were actually winning a World Cup match.
It lasted 120 seconds. Achraf Hakimi, who had just scored, turned creator: his assist found Ismael Saibari in first-half stoppage time, and Morocco went into the break ahead 3-2. The match, for all practical purposes, was over at halftime.
Morocco Close It Out
Haiti's goalkeeper made eight saves on the night. Eight. Morocco put 22 shots up, 11 on target, and held 69% of the ball on 542 passes at 90% accuracy. Haiti managed 248 passes, one corner, and two shots on target all game. The arithmetic of the second half was always going to favor Morocco.
Soufiane Rahimi made it 4-2 in the 78th minute, assisted by Chadi Riad. A minute later, Johny Placide was booked, then Duckens Nazon followed him into the referee's notebook in the 80th. Haiti were running on fumes and frustration. Gessime Yassine added the fourth in the 89th, assisted by Rahimi, and that was the match.
Josué Casimir picked up a late yellow in stoppage time — the third Haitian booking of the final twelve minutes — which tells you everything about how the closing stretch felt for them.
Verdict
El chispudo de Hakimi, doing damage at both ends of the pitch, was the clearest individual story of the night. But Morocco's real advantage was structural: they had the quality to absorb an early shock, respond twice in five first-half minutes, and then grind Haiti into dust across the second 45.
Haiti will feel the effort their goalkeeper put in — eight saves is a number that deserves acknowledgment — but this was never a match they were winning. Morocco looks like a team that knows what it's doing at this level. The question now is whether they can carry this kind of performance into tougher tests ahead.
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