Key events
Goal! Morocco 2-0 USA (Akhomach 63)
The danger in pressing forward, of course, is leaving space at the back. Ezzalzouli is off to the races in space down the left. Akhomach races through the area to the near post unimpeded. Cross, one-touch, goal.
Morocco celebrate for a needlessly long time.
There’s a VAR check, maybe thinking the ball went out of play at some point, but I’d doubt it.
63 min: If the USA can get through the next 10 minutes, maybe …
oh, never mind …
61 min: Ohhhh, that was close. Morocco win the ball at midfield and play ahead to Rahimi. Zimmerman is at first indecisive about whether to try to intercept the pass, but he comes back to chase instead. He slides at the top of the area and just manages to tackle the ball away before Rahimi tumbles over him. Nearly a breakaway, nearly a free kick, maybe even nearly a penalty. But Zimmerman did just enough there.
60 min: But while that chance was solid, the USA also had awkward spacing. In two cases, two players were in roughly the same space.
To be fair, it’s not as if this team has had much time to train together.
It’s still much, much better.
58 min: Tolkin heads up the left flank, and his cross is deflected for a corner. The USA play it short and have a long spell of possession that ends with a CHANCE … as Zimmerman heads it to the center for the onrushing Miles Robinson. Maybe Robinson should’ve left it for Aaronson?
In any case, by far the best US attacking sequence.
57 min: The USA make Morocco chase a bit, but it’s deep in their own half.
Tessmann plays down the flank, but the USA can’t control.
Hakimi crosses, and while there’s no Moroccan player there, Schulte doesn’t clear it well. No danger, though, and as Paredes brings the ball forward, El Khanouss fouls him and gets a yellow. He would miss the semifinal.
54 min: Replay shows the veteran Moroccan goalkeeper, who goes by Munir, made an excellent play to punch clear.
A few seconds later, he drops to the ground and gets treatment.
53 min: Paredes tries a scissor kick and makes decent contact. Credit El Ouahdi with the brave block. A long throw-in almost catches Morocco in an awkward spot.
52 min: Paredes is fouled, but the USA can’t do anything useful with the free kick.
50 min: Rahimi goes to ground … we’ll say a bit easily. Zimmerman is befuddled and angered when the whistle blows, and I don’t blame him.
(I know – I always get in trouble when I mention that soccer players occasionally use theatrics to get what they want. But it happens. Sometimes.)
49 min: The captain, Tessmann, gets a head to the corner kick but can’t get his body behind it to get any power.
First USA shot on goal, at least, and they’re starting to look they’re in it.
48 min: OK, that’s more promising. The USA play to the right flank, it comes back to Aaronson, and he tees it up from the top of the area. Blocked out for a corner.
47 min: Tolkin intercepts a pass, and the USA will try building from the back.
Frankly, I’m not sure I wouldn’t go direct. Make Morocco run.
46 min: The USA come out pressing. Morocco are stuck back in their own half.
For a few seconds, at least. Morocco break free and win a corner.
Tim Smith writes (slightly abridged): “Why so negative? … So they are playing badly and only down by a goal. That’s what half-time, team talks and substitutions are all about. Sir Gareth would wait until the 80th minute to change things!”
The USA aren’t hiring Southgate, are they?
I just don’t see how things can change in the second half. Maybe if Pulisic and Reyna are suddenly flown in …
To be fair to the USA – these are not the best under-23 players in the country. The Copa America roster included Folarin Balogun, Johnny Cardoso, Kristoffer Lund, Malik Tillman, Gio Reyna, Yunus Musah, Joe Scally and Ricardo Pepi.
Granted, that tournament didn’t go so well for the Americans.
This US team have done well to reach this point. Seven goals in two games will always be worth celebrating. But Morocco clearly has an “A” team here, as the result against Argentina showed.
Halftime: Morocco 1-0 USA
It’s a good thing the hot air balloon in the opening ceremony didn’t deflate the way US soccer is deflating here.
This is one of those games that raises questions about youth development in the USA. Morocco didn’t deserve their goal, and this game would be far better if they were going to be forced to create something out of all their possession. But there’s a Mediterranean-sized gulf in quality between these two sides.
The US men look naive and unskilled. Morocco can simply do whatever they want with the ball between the midfield stripe and the penalty area. It looks as if they could easily create more chances but just want to draw things out like bullfighters toying with a bull.
It’s tough to remember when the USA have looked so badly out of their element on a soccer field.
45 min +5: Again, the USA are fortunate that Morocco’s weakest point, today at least, is set pieces. The free kick sails high.
45 min +4: This is borderline unwatchable, given the gap in quality. Morocco possess the ball, the US defense meander around, and Hakimi just takes off past two US players and draws a foul 22 yards out.
45 min +3: Paredes has the ball in a dangerous spa- … oh, never mind, he’s cleanly stripped of it.
Five minutes of stoppage time.
The USA do miss Gianluca Busio, who’s injured. Worth noting.
45 min: “They’re right in the game,” Olympic veteran Tim Howard says. “They’re right where they need to be.”
I would dispute that. There’s quite a difference between a 1-0 game in which both teams are attacking and one in which the team with the lead can possess the ball at will. This is the latter.
44 min: The USA break the Moroccan press – as they have a few times. Paredes pleads for a foul, but I don’t think a foul existed.
Here’s a hint – if you want to complete short passes, you have to have teammates a short distance away. The USA aren’t doing that.
43 min: I won’t spoil it for people planning to watch later, but the USA have claimed two medals in other sports so far today.
Morocco resume the keepaway drill.
41 min: Akhomach is just toying with the USA now, shuffling his feet for a backheeled pass that almost connects.
If Morocco can get a goal on something like that, it’ll feel more justified than the goal they actually got.
41 min: Just a pointless, needless, terrible, no good, very bad foul from Tolkin, pushing over a Moroccan player at midfield.
The USA are rattled and have no idea what to do.
40 min: US foul at midfield – a legitimate call, but Aaronson has to laugh at Hakimi’s embellishment.
39 min: The Moroccan free kick is their worst touch of the game. Sails over by a kilometer.
38 min: Harriel figures if he’s going to get called for fouls, he might as well actually foul someone. He grabs Ezzalzouli’s shirt and hauls him down by the side of the penalty area. Lucky not to get yellow. Free kick.
36 min: As harsh as the call was, the USA aren’t looking capable of posing any sort of threat here. Another unforced turnover. Another missed defensive assignment that leaves Akhomach open for a run, and the USA scramble to deflect a pass for a corner.
35 min: Miles Robinson kicks the ball out of play for some reason.
Morocco apparently intend to possess the ball for the next 65 minutes and occasionally feign injury. Lovely.
34 min: Play continues. Apparently. That goal has just deflated the game, oddly enough.
GOAL! Morocco 1-0 USA (Rahimi 28 pen)
Schulte makes a strong effort, but the ball is placed just inside the post.
Moroccan fans celebrate as if they have accomplished something great rather than being handed a gift.
The call will apparently stand.
It is at the very least unlucky. At most, unjust.
Three players raised their boot to get to the ball, and they all kicked each other. Calling a foul on Harriel there would be harsh, to say the least.
There was no hesitation from our Argentinian referee. What’s the view of the Dutchman in the VAR booth?
27 min: PENALTY TO MOROCCO. Harriel is the guilty party.
Oh, this will be overturned …
