On June 23, 1998, at the Estadio de Geovroy Kichal in Saint-Etienne, France, the final round of Group A of this World Cup was played here, where the match between Scotland and Morocco was staged, although the two teams were temporarily ranked three or four, but Norway played against the powerful Brazilian team in this round, and it was quite difficult to win. Therefore, the winner of this match still has a good chance of qualifying.
Scotland made two changes to the starting line-up for this game, with McNamara, David Weier coming on in place of Calderwood and Darren Jackson.
Morocco also had as many as three personnel changes, with Triki, Abrami and Anzini getting the starting line-up for the game.
Faced with such a game where only a win can preserve the hope of promotion, the two teams will naturally not play conservatively. In the 9th minute of the game, Scotland won a corner kick from the right, Collins drove the ball into the box, Moroccan goalkeeper Benzelik chose to jump up and attack, but saved empty, but the teammates behind him focused and cleared the ball.
In the 14th minute, Scotland won a free-kick in front. They opted for a straightforward approach, hoisting the ball into the box to find Gordon Dyry. But Gordon Dilry was now facing away from the goal and the Moroccan players were defending closely, and the threat was not too great. Who knew that Benzeric chose to attack again and once again saved a lonely shot, but Gordon Diri's header was deflected.
Scotland veteran Jim Layton was much more reliable than Benzerick's unreliable, and in the 17th minute he secured a free-kick cross from Morocco's right.
In the 21st minute, Scotland's Gallagher was shown a yellow card by the referee for a foul on Abrami.
The Scots would not have imagined that their doom was about to begin. Just a minute later, Morocco attacked, Halei sent a long pass near the middle circle, Bashir successfully countered the offside and shot with his foot, although Layton struggled to block it, but could not stop the ball into the net, Morocco took a 1-0 lead. The situation was very favorable for the Moroccan, and the score of the other match remained unchanged, and the Moroccan temporarily jumped to second place in the group.
Losing is ironclad, and the Scotland team will naturally not sit still. But their attack was either deflected or defused by Benzerick, who had recovered his form. Even though Benzeric made occasional mistakes when picking up the high-altitude ball, the rest of the Moroccan team did not give the Scotsman a chance, and Scotland could only go into the halftime with a goal behind.
Just as Scotland were adjusting to their form to save the situation in the second half, they suffered another doom just a minute into the second half. Scotland's attack on the right flank was cut off, and Morocco took advantage of the situation to launch a quick counterattack. Haji hit the ball straight into front with a long pass, and Hada used his speed advantage to get away from Vir's defense and headed into the left side of the box, followed by a pick-and-shoot. Although Leiden touched the ball, he could not stop the ball into the net, and Morocco extended the score.
In the 51st minute, Scotland's Burley fired a threatening shot from the penalty area, but the ball was blocked by Benzerick.
Burleigh would not have imagined that just two minutes later, his recklessness would completely kill the Scotland team's hopes of a turnaround. Because of the flying tackle Bashir in the back, he was sent off directly by the referee with a red card. Trailing by two goals and playing with one less man, Scotland is over.
Scotland made immediate changes after Burleigh was sent off, with McKinley replacing McNamara. At this time, the Scotland team did not have much offensive means, and could only threaten the Moroccan team with long-range shots, but with little success.
For the Moroccolican, who are leading by two goals, the focus is no longer on the game, but on the results of the games between Brazil and Norway. This made their offense seem a little casual, during which they replaced Sabel with Rossi and then Azini with Azzi. Even so, the good news came that Brazil took the lead thanks to Bebeto's goal and Morocco were close to promotion.
In the 85th minute, Morocco extended the score further. Bashir picked up a passing from a teammate outside the box and first picked up Boyd, then a volley in the box hit Hendry and changed the line slightly. Layton could do nothing about it and could only witness the ball into the net for the third time.
The 3-0 score was held until the end of the match, but instead of a cheer of victory, Norway defeated Brazil 2-1 in another match, which meant that Morocco's big win was meaningless, and they could only bid farewell to the World Cup with Scotland.