Two goals in the opening twenty minutes left little doubt as Morocco completed their sweep over Guinea-Bissau this week with a 3-0 win to firm up their first place position in FIFA World Cup qualifying Group I on Saturday. Ayoub El Kaabi made it three goals for the week by adding two more and Aymen Barkok tallied with a scorching finish to make it three wins in three games and put the Atlas Lions five points ahead of the competition. Guinea-Bissau are in second place but will likely cede their spot to Guinea, who have played one less game and are the only side capable of threatening Morocco’s top spot.
It took only ten minutes for the group leaders to find the opener with a well executed set piece unraveling the opposition defense. Wolverhampton Wanderers player Romain Saïss sent in an excellent free kick from the right wing that found Ryan Mmaee at the near post, who flicked his header across the goal mouth and found El Kaabi crashing in to head home from a yard out.
El Kaabi was involved in the second goal that arrived in the 20th minute. Ilias Chair executed a combination with Imran Louza and sent in a lobbed diagonal ball from the left flank to find the Hatayspor marksman, who had taken up position inside the penalty area. El Kaabi rose up and cushioned a header down at the edge of the area to find an onrushing Barkok for a firm strike past a helpless Jonas Mendes in the Guinea-Bissau goal.
Guinea-Bissau woke up after the halftime break and began to make some inroads into the Moroccan half, but it was far too late and the Djurtus were unable to find a goal to get back within reach. In the 69th minute any chance of a comeback was ended by a self-inflicted wound. Boavista center back Marcelo Djaló failed to check his surroundings before turning and making a pass back towards keeper Mendes, and El Kaabi swarmed to collect the ball and rounded the advancing Mendes before tapping in to make it 3-0.
Morocco are all but through to the final round at this point barring a collapse in the two games scheduled against Guinea. Highlights from Casablanca are in the button link below.
