By William Schomberg
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts, June 19 (Reuters) - Morocco have one foot in the World Cup’s knockout stages and are once again earning plaudits for their fluid football, but they are not yet turning all that style into a flurry of goals at this year's tournament.
The North Africans, who were the surprise success story of the last World Cup, beat Scotland 1-0 on Friday having drawn 1-1 with Brazil six days earlier, giving them four points ahead of their final Group C game against Haiti.
But those two goals represent only a modest return for their 26 shots over the two games, something that coach Mohamed Ouahbi will probably have to remedy if he wants to make good on his stated ambition of taking the 2022 semi-finalists all the way to this year’s final.
Morocco have a natural scorer leading their attack in Ismael Saibari, who lashed home from an angle after 71 seconds against Scotland – the quickest strike of this year’s World Cup.
Against Brazil, Saibari kept his cool to put Morocco ahead in a game their supporters felt they should have won.
Brahim Diaz constantly teased the Scottish defence in the first half and it was his defence-splitting pass that set up Saibari's goal.
And the 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi, playing only his second competitive international match, looked like the calmest player on the pitch as he dominated the centre of midfield and fired off one first-touch pass after another.
Bouaddi's accuracy helped Morocco complete 601 passes, the most by an African team in a World Cup match since records began in 1966.
But despite their superior technique and their harrying of Scotland for much of the match – and a Saibari effort that was deflected on to the bar - Morocco only had two efforts on target including their lightning-fast goal.
Coach Ouahbi - who took charge of the team in March after his predecessor Walid Regragui was criticised by fans for his style of football - sought to focus on his team's defensive work as the clock ticked down and Scotland upped their intensity.
"Of course, 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," he said.
"We lacked a bit of efficiency, but ... Ismael Saibari has two goals. He's keeping it up. I hope there are others who will score too."
For Scotland, the narrow defeat is unlikely to prove deeply damaging to their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stage of a major tournament for the first time.
Having beaten Haiti 1-0 and losing by only one goal to Morocco, Scotland could qualify for the competition's new round of 32 - part of the enlarged format of this year's tournament - if they finish third in their group.
Their last Group C game is against Brazil.
(Additional reporting by Mohamed Yossry; writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
