BOSTON: Morocco created history on Friday as their 1-0 victory over Scotland in the FIFA World Cup 2026 saw the Atlas Lions establish the longest unbeaten group-stage run by an African nation.
The North Africans secured all three points in their Group C encounter thanks to an early strike from Ismael Saibari, who found the net after just 71 seconds to score the fastest goal of the tournament so far.
Saibari’s effort gave Morocco the perfect start, and the 2022 World Cup semi-finalists controlled much of the contest before withstanding late pressure from Scotland, who pushed hard in the closing stages in search of an equaliser.
Catch all FIFA World Cup 2026 live updates here!
The victory extended Morocco’s impressive record against European opposition in the World Cup group stage.
They had entered the match having lost just one of their previous six group-stage meetings with European sides, with that defeat coming against Portugal in 2018.
More significantly, the result saw Morocco rewrite African World Cup history.
Follow us on our Official WhatsApp channel
The Moroccan side is now unbeaten in their last six group-stage matches at the tournament, surpassing the previous African record jointly held by Cameroon and Senegal.
Cameroon had gone five consecutive group matches without defeat between 1982 and 1990, while Senegal matched the feat across the 2002 and 2018 editions.
READ: Matheus Cunha double fires Brazil past Haiti as Caribbean side crash out