World Cup Group C: Scotland on the brink of elimination, Morocco struggle past Haiti

Scotland will need to wait for other results before they know whether their solitary win over Haiti will be enough to put them through to the round of 16.

A 3-0 loss to Brazil has given them a -3 goal difference, which may mean they slip into the bottom four third-place finishers and miss out on reaching a knockout round for the first time in their history.

In the group’s other game, Morocco came from behind twice in the first half before late goals from Soufiane Rahimi and Gessime Yassine secured the win.

Vinicius Jr double threatens Scotland’s hopes

Two first-half goals from Vinicius Jr and a third from Matheus Cunha on the hour was enough to see off Scotland and secure top spot in the group.

Scotland gifted Brazil the opener when Scott McKenna’s pass was intercepted by Rayan who played in Vinicius Jr to round Angus Gunn and roll the ball into an empty net.

Vinicius thought he had added his second shortly after when he stole the ball from Jack Hendry, but it was ruled out for a foul after a VAR check.

The Real Madrid man did get his second in first-half stoppage time though when he headed home Bruno Guimaraes’s cross.

Brazil continued to put the pressure on in the second half, and it was a damage limitation exercise for Scotland. Gunn did well to deny Rayan and stopped Vinicius from getting his hat trick. Cunha did add Brazil’s third though, when he rounded Gunn to finish off a slick Brazil move.

Scotland did attempt to pull a goal back in the second half but Scott McTominay headed into the arms of Alisson before forcing a great save from the Liverpool shot-stopper late on.

Morocco deny Haiti first World Cup point

Morocco left it late to secure the three points and consign Haiti to three losses.

Haiti already knew that they were unable to progress before the final game, and seemed to be playing with the freedom to attack the Morocco backline. They broke through in the 10th minute when Jean-Kevin Duverne’s cross was flicked goalwards by Lenny Joseph and the ball went in off Morocco defender Yassine Bounou.

Morocco responded well though and Achraf Hakimi bundled the ball in after Haiti goalkeeper Johnny Placide struggled to deal with a cross.

But Haiti led again just a few minutes later, when Sunderland’s Wilson Isidor sent the ball into the top corner from long range to score the best goal of the tournament so far.

That was as good as it got for Haiti though , and Morocco levelled again on the stroke of half time, when Saibari converted Hakimi’s cross to become the first African player to score in all three group games at a World Cup.

Morocco showed the gulf in class between the two teams in the second half and took the lead when Rahimi found the top corner from Chadi Riad’s flick-on. They completed the scoring in stoppage time when Rahimi found Yassine to tap home his first Morocco goal.

Cover Photo: FIFA World Cup 2014 by Mariya Butd used under license by CC BY 2.0.