After opening their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign with an impressive 1-1 draw with Brazil, African champions Morocco, will be aiming to repeat history when they take on Scotland in their second Group C match in Boston this evening.
At the 1998 World Cup in France, Morocco swept away Scotland’s Tartan Army with a 3-0 result.
The Atlas Lions however know tonight’s game presents a different scenario from what happened in Etienne, in France 28 years ago.
Going into today’s game, Scotland are the surprise leaders of the Group C standing on three points. Both Morocco and Brazil are on one point from their drawn game. The Tartan Army have been buoyed by their victory over Haiti and will be looking forward to consolidating tonight.
But against Morocco that finished as semifinalists at the last edition in Qatar, the game promises to be full of fireworks.
Tartan Army Head Coach, Steve Clarke, said after the match that the team can be “happy” with the victory and that the win eased the pressure on them ahead of the clash with Morocco today.
If Scotland were to beat Morocco, that would set them well on course to make it through to the knockout rounds of the World Cup for the first time in their history.
In their final training session ahead of Friday’s showdown, Scotland had a full complement of players available, which will come as a relief to Clarke after centre-back Scott McKennamissed training on Wednesday.
The Tartan Army played in a 4-4-2 formation against Haiti and, although they won, there were numerous nerve-shredding moments throughout the game, as Haiti had chances to equalise, pushing Scotland hard right up until the final whistle.
They will need to be at their very best against a Morocco side full of talent, including one of the best right-backs in the world in Achraf Hakimi, Real Madridstar Brahim Díaz, rising star Ayyoub Bouaddiand, goalscorer against Brazil, Ismael Saibari.
If they are to win this game, Scotland will need their own stars to step up. McGinn, Scott McTominayand co will need to be at their goalscoring best and the performance will have to be better than it was against Haiti.