Morocco electrified Paris in a 4-0 win over USA that put them in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament semi-finals for the first time. Soufiane Rahimi, Ilias Akhomach, and Achraf Hakimi and El Mehdi Maouhoub got the goals as Tarik Sektioui’s side booked a trip to Marseille to play Japan or Spain.
After dominating the opening exchanges, winning a series of corners and peppering the US goal. Their pressure paid off when Nathan Harriel caught Soufiane Rahimi and the referee pointed to the spot.
Patrick Schulte guessed the right way, but Rahimi arrowed it past his despairing dive with pinpoint precision.
It was the 28-year-old Casablancan’s fifth goal, and third spot-kick, of Paris 2024. If that was expected to trigger an American response, it didn’t.
The Moroccans, with Achraf Hakimi, Abde Ezzalzouli, Ilias Akhomach and Amir Richardson thrilling the crowd, continued to dominate.
USA briefly got going in the second half, with Miles Robinson clipping a decent chance wide, but they were rapidly under waves of pressure.
Akhomach shot just over following flashy footwork, before a supreme sliding tackle from Walker Zimmerman denied Rahimi going clean through on goal. They would not be denied for much longer.
Ezzalzouli did well to keep the ball in play down the left and cut it across goal for Akhomach to fire home, before Hakimi jogged uncontested through the midfield and found the bottom corner from just outside the box to make it three.
Morocco completed an emphatic victory in stoppage time, El Mehdi Maouhoub, with Rahimi already off, dispatching a penalty.
