Morocco's performance in their 1-0 World Cup victory over Scotland on Friday was better than the North Africans’ impressive showing in their draw with Brazil last week, according to coach Mohamed Ouahbi.

His prognosis came as Ismael Saibari scored the quickest goal of the 2026 tournament so far after 71 seconds to give Morocco a perfect start before they held off a late Scotland surge for a deserved 1-0 win to reach four points in Group C.

“We controlled the whole game and, in terms of efficiency, I saw it as actually better than the first game,” said Ouahbi, whose side caught the eye in their opening 1-1 draw versus Brazil in New York/New Jersey last weekend.

“I see it as progress compared to the first game. So in the end, we are happy with the result; we wanted three points, and we got them. That was the main objective.”

“I believe we controlled the game, but when you don’t score a second goal, obviously, we have to defend because Scotland had a very intense approach with very long balls. But I couldn’t be happier with the performance.”

However, the clash was played against a backdrop of jeers for Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, hours after a French appeals court confirmed that he will stand trial in a rape case.