Morocco changed its team for the World Cup 2026 meeting with Haiti on Sunday, handing Sofyan Amrabat his first start of the tournament while Noussair Mazraoui, Issa Diop and Ayyoub Bouaddi were all left on the bench. The match kicked off at 6pm ET, 11pm BST and 8am AEST, with Mohamed Ouahbi opting for a rotated side in the group-stage finale.
The selection mattered because this was not a routine shuffle. Morocco lined up in a 4-2-3-1, and the move put a familiar name in a new role: Amrabat started from the opening whistle after previously being held back. Bouaddi, 18, remained a substitute despite being talked about as one of the most sought-after young talents in North America that summer, with Arsenal, PSG, Bayern Munich and Liverpool among the clubs watching him.
Haiti also altered its XI from the Brazil match, with Sébastien Migné pairing Lenny Joseph and Frantzdy Pierrot up front in a 4-4-2. Duckens Nazon, Haiti’s all-time leading goalscorer, was still only listed among the substitutes and had not played at the tournament as he worked his way back from a hamstring injury. That kept one of Haiti’s most proven scorers on the sidelines in a match that needed firepower from the first minute.
There is a reason the lineups drew attention beyond the usual group-stage churn. Morocco had not played a home match in Haiti since 2021 because of conflict and strife, and the squad has been carrying the weight of a tournament that now asks for patience as much as control. For Ouahbi, the rotation suggests trust in depth and a clear eye on the shape of the competition rather than one game alone.
What happens next is simple and unforgiving: the lineup choice either looks like smart management or wasted caution once the final whistle goes. If Amrabat gives Morocco the control it wants and Haiti cannot use Nazon off the bench, the selection will read as a statement rather than a gamble.
