Morocco come from behind twice to beat Haiti 4-2

Soufiane Rahimi put Morocco ahead with ten minutes left. Picture: Kevin Cox/Getty

Morocco twice came from behind to beat Haiti 4-2 as they sealed second place in Group C.

Substitute Soufiane Rahimi scored 12 minutes from time to put them ahead after Haiti had twice taken the lead in the first half, Gessime Yassine adding a fourth late on.

Haiti stunned Morocco after 10 minutes with their first World Cup goal in 18,994 days, Lenny Joseph’s neat flick from a cross from Danley Jean Jacques going in off goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who was credited with the own goal.

Bounou’s opposite number Johny Placide made a double save from Achraf Hakimi and Ayoub El Kaabi, but was powerless to stop Hakimi bundling in the equaliser after 38 minutes off his standing leg after the goalkeeper had palmed a cross across the goal.

They remained level for just four minutes, Sunderland striker Wilson Isidor finding the top corner with a strike from 25 yards.

But Morocco were back level before the break, Saibari’s strike from outside the box after Hakimi’s cut back, leaving Placide with no chance.

Haiti defender Ricardo Ade narrowly cleared his own bar from the edge of the box and made a vital interception as they were caught out on the break, but from the resultant corner Soufiane Rahimi’s smart first touch allowed him to fire into the top corner via a deflection off Ade.

Yassine added the fourth with the ball judged not to have fully crossed the line before Rahimi’s cross.

Morocco captain Hakimi said: “It was a tricky game, a difficult one. We didn’t start well, but we changed our mindset and worked hard to get ourselves back into it.

“We’re proud of what we did, but now we need to recover well and get ourselves ready for what’s next.” Haiti coach Sebastien Migne said his side had come “very close to making history”.

“We wanted to leave with our heads held high,” he said. “And that’s exactly what we’ve done.”