Morocco vs Brazil score, result, highlights, as Sabiri goal lifts World Cup semifinalists to shock win

Simon Borg

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Morocco vs Brazil score, result, highlights, as Sabiri goal lifts World Cup semifinalists to shock win image

Morocco continued to ride the wave of their historic 2022 World Cup semifinal run, beating Brazil 2-1 in Tangiers in an international friendly on March 25.

The winning goal came with about 10 minutes remaining, as substitute Abdelhamid Sabiri roofed a loose ball in the Brazil box, and the Atlas Lions' defense did the rest to see out a deserved result. 

The Moroccan team took the lead in the first half on a well-executed attack that was finished with a classy, spinning move in the box by Sofiane Boufal. But an uncharacteristic mistake by Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou on a shot by Casemiro saw Brazil equalize 1-1 in the second half.

Morocco were simply sharper, more aggressive, intense, and direct compared to their South American opponents. They were fueled by a capacity crowd that created a memorable environment for the first match played after their fourth-place finish in Qatar.

Brazil were missing several injured players and they were clearly not at their best, but they did create a fair number of chances. However, their front three struggled to convert, and Bounou came up with timely saves just as he did throughout their World Cup run. Brazil also had a goal disallowed for a Vinicius Jr. offside infraction.

But the result perhaps shouldn't come as a complete surprise since the Atlas Lions went farther than Brazil at the World Cup. The Brazilian side were knocked out at the quarterfinal stage on penalties, while Morocco became the first African team to reach the semis, where they fell to France in a tight contest.

Brazil head coach Tite departed after the World Cup, and the Selecao had an interim in charge in Morocco with Under-20 national team coach Ramon Menezes at the helm. His Moroccan counterpart ultimately got the upper hand, as Walid Regragui, who was the architect of the historic World Cup run, saw his team continue to perfect their signature playing style, turning biting defense into piercing attacks.

This was the only match that Brazil scheduled during this March international window. Meanwhile, the Atlas Lions will face another South American side in Peru on March 28 in Madrid.

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Morocco vs Brazil final score

  1H 2H Final
Morocco 1 1 2
Brazil 0 1 1

Goals:
MOR — Sofiane Boufal (Bilal El Khannouss) — 29th min.
BRA — Casemiro (Lucas Paqueta) — 67th min.
MOR — Abdelhamid Sabiri (Walid Cheddira) — 79th min.

Lineups:

Morocco lineup (4-5-1): 1-Bounou (GK) — 2-Hakimi (25-Attiah Allah, 52'), 5-Aguerd, 6-Saiss (capt.), 3-N. Mazraoui — 7-Ziyech, 8-Ounahi (11-Sabiri, 64'), 4-Amrabat, 23-El Khannouss (13-Louza, 64'), 17-Boufal (16-EZ Abde, 77') — 19-En-Nesyri (21-Cheddira, 77')

Brazil lineup (4-3-3): 12-Weverton (GK) — 2-Emerson Royal (9-Alberto, 92'), 3-Militao, 14-Ibanez, 6-Telles — 8-Andrey Santos (20-Veiga, 64'), 5-Casemiro (capt.), 7-Paqueta — 22-Rony (21-Antony, 64'), 10-Rodrygo (19-Roque, 64'), 11-Vinicius Jr

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Why did Brazil lose vs. Morocco?

Perhaps you can blame the lack of a permanent head coach or the absence of several key players, but Brazil just weren't as sharp and incisive as they usually are. The passes and combinations didn't come easy, and players weren't beating their opponents 1-on-1 as we're used to seeing from the Selecao. Credit Morocco's aggressive defending for Brazil's lack of success in those departments.

It didn't help that Brazil's marking in the box was lax in the moments that counted, but the trio up top — Vinicius (left), Rodrygo (center forward), and Rony (right) — also missed on the few chances they did have. And the subs that came on, including Vitor Roque and Antony, failed to make a difference.

This Brazil team is one that appears to be in transition as it looks to identify a new coach and integrate a handful of new, young players.

How did Andrey Santos do?

The Chelsea signing on loan at Vasco da Gama made his Brazil debut, but Andrey Santos didn't really make any standout plays that impacted the match. There were no defense-splitting passes, no shining dribbling moves to create chaos, no creativity on the ball, and no penetrating runs out of midfield into the attack.

But that didn't stop Santos from giving himself a '7' rating (out of 10) for his 64 minutes on the field. And he said it would've been a higher rating if Brazil had won. (We're not sure that's how player ratings are supposed to work.)

Palmeiras forward Rony also started the match and missed a big chance under pressure early on, which could have turned him into a potential hero. He showed a willingness to attack, but he just didn't show the elite quality that is necessary to earn a regular place on Brazil's Selecao. 

Rony's Palmeiras teammate Raphael Veiga came on late to make his debut, as did Athletico Paranaense forward Vitor Roque. But neither had time to leave a mark on the game.

Morocco are more than just defense

The Atlas Lions were one of the best defensive units at the World Cup, but their attacking ability and skill sometimes gets overshadowed by the focus on their clean sheets. Morocco's players showed they can ball with the Brazilians.

Morocco manager Walid Regragui lined up some of his most skillful players in midfield with Bilal El Khannouss and Azzedine Ounahi bringing their talents to bear on the game, while Hakim Ziyech and Sofiane Boufal also oozed quality. It's no wonder that Morocco looked dangerous on every transition that ran through those four players.

As proof of the quality, check out this Ounahi highlight reel from the match:

Morocco vs Brazil updates, highlights from friendly

Final: Morocco 2-1 Brazil

85th min.: Fans are sensing the win is close and they are chanting "Ole" with every touch by the Morocco team.

79th min.: Goal Morocco! It's the two subs combining for it. Abdelhamid Sabiri gets the goal after a cross was touched by Walid Cheddira. Morocco go back up 2-1.

77th min.: SUBS Morocco. It's Walid Cheddira and EZ Abde who come on for Youssef En Nesyri and Sofiane Boufal. Fresh legs for the Morocco attack to see if they can nick one more goal and take home a memorable victory.

73rd min.: Hydration break and the teams take advantage to huddle up at the benches and talk about how they're going to approach the final 15 minutes.

67th min.: Goal Brazil! Casemiro takes a shot from the top of the box and it's a blunder by goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who lets it slip underneath him.

64th min.: SUBS for Brazil and Morocco. Antony, Vitor Roque, and Raphael Veiga are on for Rony, Rodrygo, and Andrey Santos.

Morocco bring on Imran Louza and Abdelhamid Sabiri for El Khannouss and Ounahi.

57th & 59th min.: Chances Brazil! Two more opportunities. But Vinicius sends a low driven cross that runs right through the six-yard box. And then on a corner kick, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou has to block a Lucas Paqueta shot at the far post.

52nd min.: SUB Morocco. Achraf Hakimi gets the ovation from the crowd with Yahia Attiat Allah coming in. He'll play at left-back while Noussair Mazraoui moves from left-back to right-back in place of Hakimi.

48th min.: Chance Brazil! What a save by Morocco's Yassine Bounou! He denies Rodrygo on a beautiful volley attempt with a sensational stop. Nothing comes of the corner kick for Brazil.

46th min.: Second half is underway. No changes from either team.

Halftime: Morocco 1-0 Brazil

Halftime: Morocco have the shock lead over a Brazil team that has two new starters in Andrey Santos (right center-mid) and Rony (right wing). The home team look like a team that is still riding the momentum from the World Cup and playing with a similar style. They are also more intense, direct and generally sharper.

Morocco are comfortable in their play, waiting for Brazil, then going hard to win the ball back, and launching quick counters after they win it. These moments are causing problems for Brazil because of the skill and dribbling ability of the Moroccan attackers.

Brazil still created chances, but poor finishing from their front three (Vinicius, Rony and Rodrygo), a great double save by Yassine Bounou, and an offside call to disallow a goal kept them off the board. The Selecao will continue to be dangerous in the second half.

47th min.: YELLOW card to Sofyan Amrabat for an ugly scissors tackle on Vinicius. He was lucky to get away with only a yellow card.

46th min.: Chance Morocco! Another sensational transition attack, and Sofiane Boufal is wide open, but he whiffs on his first-time shot just outside the box. If he made good contact on that, it could've been a second.

42nd min.: YELLOW card to El Khannouss. It's a good decision. The Genk man committed a pretty wild foul on debutant Andrey Santos in midfield. Rodrygo takes the free kick, but he just misses his teammates in the box.

41st min.: This has been an entertaining match. In a matter of a couple of minutes, both Azzedine Ounahi on one end, and Vinicius on the other, just missed the top corner. It's an even match, but Morocco is looking sharper.

35th min.: Chance Brazil! A Casemiro diagonal ball into the box is headed down by Rony to Rodrygo, but the first-time shot by the Real Madrid man is high of the target. His head is in his hands — he knows he could've done better there.

29th min.: Goal Morocco! It's Sofiane Boufal who scores it. The Moroccans swarm Brazil's Emerson Royal, strip him of the ball, and in two passes Boufal gets the ball in the box, spins and shoots to beat Weverton. An excellent play from the home side, turning good defending into attack.

And it's pandemonium in Tangiers:

26th min.: Brazil goal disallowed! It appears to be a good decision from the Tunisian referee. Vinicius Jr was offside on a long ball sent his way. Morocco goalkeeper Bounou came off his line to stop it and Vinicius took advantage of his position to put home the loose ball.

Salvio Spinola (below) disagrees, but Vinicius is definitely making an attempt to play the ball.

24th min.: Chance Brazil! Incredible double save by Yassine Bounou. The goal was at the mercy of the Brazilian forwards, but first Bounou blocked a shot and then he got up and grabbed another shot before it could reach the goal.

23rd min.: Chance Morocco! Left-back Noussair Mazraoui pushes all the way up into the attack and gathers a diagonal pass. Then he puts the ball on his right foot and nearly finds the low far netting. The attempt finished just wide.

20th min.: The match is going as you'd imagine. Brazil knocking it around, Morocco comfortable sitting back and waiting to win the ball back and go forward fast. When Morocco have countered, they have been quick, but not accurate.

13th min.: Chance Brazil! Fantastic pass from Paqueta to Rony, who was making a run into the Morocco box. The Palmeiras forward did well to control, but Rony's shot went over the bar. He was challenged by a defender and didn't get a clean shot off.

10th min.: Brazil turn the ball over and Morocco quickly go vertical. But Sofiane Boufal cuts it back to Hakim Ziyech, whose shot is blocked. Morocco are displaying a lot of the same characteristics that made them so difficult to play against in Qatar.

6th min.: After a buzzing start from the Moroccans, the game has calmed down some, with Brazil getting a few more touches. In the attack, it's Rony positioned wide right and Rodrygo operating as the central striker.

1st min.: Morocco kick off. And there's an early foul by Brazil left-back Alex Telles on Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi. Telles fumes at the referee, and the Brazilians already have issues with the Tunisian official.

1 min from kickoff: We're just about ready. The formalities are out of the way. The referee is Sadok Selmi from Tunisia. There's a moment of remembrance for Pele before the match kicks off.

5 mins from kickoff: Teams are back on the field. Time for anthems.

10 mins from kickoff: Warmups have wrapped up. The next time we'll see the teams out on the field, it'll be time for anthems.

30 mins from kickoff: The teams are warming up. The ovation for the Moroccan team was notably louder from the home crowd.

60 mins from kickoff: Lineups are out. And here's confirmation of the Brazil lineup with Chelsea's 18-year-old midfielder Andrey Santos (on loan with Vasco through June) getting the start in midfield, and Palmeiras forward Rony lining up with Real Madrid duo Vinicius and Rodrygo.

Meanwhile, Morocco are going with a 4-5-1 (or 4-2-3-1) that sees Genk's creative midfielder Bilal El Khannouss get the start in the middle. Also, despite all the chatter of not being 100 percent, Achraf Hakimi starts at right-back for Morocco.

70 mins from kickoff: According to Reuters reporter Fernando Kallas, Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson has been suffering from stomach problems all week, and Weverton will start instead. Here's the Brazil lineup as reported by ESPN's Gustavo Hofman:

100 mins from kickoff: The Moroccan players are just arriving at the stadium and this is how the crowd welcomed them with 90 minutes still left until kickoff.

Here's the view via drone of the Moroccan team bus arriving at the stadium.

110 mins from kickoff: The stadium is beginning to fill up and we're still close to two hours out from the match.

And here's the scene just outside the stadium.

120 mins from kickoff: Here's the Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangiers, which will host the match between the World Cup semifinalists against the five-time world champions. It goes without saying that the 65,000 tickets were sold out well in advance.

Morocco vs Brazil lineups

Regragui named a 30-man roster for the two matches in the March 2023 window, including 20 World Cup stars like Yassine Bounou, Achraf Hakimi, Hakim Ziyech, and Youssef En-Nesyri. Hakimi will start although his participation was up in the air with reports that he trained separately from the group in the days leading up to the match.

Goalkeeper Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti is out after picking up an injury in training, and Chadi Riad, Yassine Kechta, and Ibrahim Salah are not listed on the official matchday team sheet.

Morocco lineup (4-5-1): 1-Yassine Bounou (GK) — 2-Achraf Hakimi, 5-Nayef Aguerd, 6-Romain Saiss (capt.), 3-Noussair Mazraoui — 7-Hakim Ziyech, 8-Azzedine Ounahi, 4-Sofyan Amrabat, 23-Bilal El Khannouss, 17-Sofiane Boufal — 19-Youssef En-Nesyri

Morocco subs (15): 12-Munir El Kajoui (GK), 22-Mehdi Benabid (GK), 15-Abdelkebir Abqar, 20-Achraf Dari, 18-Jaward El Yamiq, 25-Yahya Attiah Allah, 26-Ayoub Amraoui, 13-Imran Louza, 24-Benjamin Bouchouari, 11-Abdelhamid Sabiri, 21-Walid Cheddira, 16-EZ Abde, 14-Zakaria Aboukhlal, 10-Anas Zaroury, 9-Abderazzak Hamdallah

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The Brazil lineup features Weverton starting in place of Ederson after the Man City goalkeeper had stomach issues all week. Also, on-loan Chelsea midfielder Andrey Santos gets the start as does Palmeiras 27-year-old attacker Rony.

Brazil is without the injured Thiago Silva, Neymar, and Marquinhos, while Liverpool trio Alisson, Fabinho, and Roberto Firmino were not selected in addition to Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli and Newcastle United's Bruno Guimaraes. 

Brazil lineup (4-3-3): 12-Weverton (GK) — 2-Emerson Royal, 3-Eder Militao, 14-Roger Ibanez, 6-Alex Telles — 8-Andrey Santos, 5-Casemiro (capt.), 7-Lucas Paqueta — 22-Rony, 10-Rodrygo, 11-Vinicius Jr

Brazil subs (12): 1-Ederson (GK), 23-Mycael (GK), 13-Arthur, 15-Robert Renan, 4-Bremer, 16-Renan Lodi, 17-Andre, 18-Joao Gomes, 20-Raphael Veiga, 21-Antony, 9-Yuri Alberto, 19-Vitor Roque

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Watch Morocco vs Brazil live stream, TV channel

  Date Time TV channel Streaming
Australia Sun, Mar. 26 09:00 AEDT — YouTube
Canada Sat, Mar. 25 18:00 EDT — YouTube
Hong Kong Sun, Mar. 26 06:00 HKT — YouTube
India Sun, Mar. 26 03:30 IST — YouTube
Malaysia Sun, Mar. 26 06:00 MYT — YouTube
New Zealand Sun, Mar. 26 11:00 NZDT — YouTube
Singapore Sun, Mar. 26 06:00 SGT — YouTube
UK Sat, Mar. 25 22:00 GMT — bet365
USA Sat, Mar. 25 18:00 EDT — YouTube

This friendly fixture has limited international broadcast outlets with Galvao Bueno's 'Canal GB' YouTube channel covering the match.

Another Brazilian outlet Band Sports (Bandeirantes) is also broadcasting the match online with viewers required to register to create an account to access the match.

Viaplay are providing live access in eight European countries, including Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Those in the UK with a bet365 account can watch a live stream of the match through the bookmakers' website or app.

Morocco's Arryadia has the match for the local side.

Simon Borg

Simon Borg Photo

Simon Borg is a senior editor at The Sporting News who has covered football/soccer for over a decade. A supporter of Italian club Parma Calcio from his years growing up in Europe, he was previously a long-time member of Major League Soccer's digital media team, as a multimedia content producer, on-air personality, and Editor-in-Chief. Based in New York City, Borg is multilingual and has covered the domestic and global scene for TSN since 2021.