{"id":61305,"date":"2025-09-06T21:16:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T21:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup"},"modified":"2025-09-06T21:47:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T21:47:54","slug":"morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup","title":{"rendered":"Morocco Crush Niger 5-0 to Qualify for 2026 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Morocco trounced 10-man Niger 5-0 in Rabat on Friday to win Group E and become the first African team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas Lions took full advantage after Niger\u2019s Abdul-Latif Goumey was sent off in the first half.<\/p>\n<p>Ismael Saibari struck twice before the break, while Ayoub El Kaabi, Hamza Igamane, and Azzedine Ounahi added second-half goals to complete the emphatic victory.<\/p>\n<p>The result marked Morocco\u2019s sixth straight win in the qualifiers, lifting them to an unassailable 18 points and sealing their seventh appearance at the global showpiece with two matches to spare.<\/p>\n<p>Morocco, who stunned the world as semifinalists at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, continue their impressive run on the international stage.<\/p>\n<p>The Atlas Lions topped a group that included Croatia and Belgium in 2022 before knocking out Spain and Portugal in the knockout rounds, writing history as the first African side to reach the semifinals.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Lesotho<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Morocco trounced 10-man Niger 5-0 in Rabat on Friday to win Group E and become the first African team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The Atlas Lions took full advantage after Niger\u2019s Abdul-Latif Goumey was sent off in the first half. Ismael Saibari struck twice before the break, while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":61304,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[245],"class_list":["post-61305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Morocco Crush Niger 5-0 to Qualify for 2026 World Cup - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Morocco trounced 10-man Niger 5-0 in Rabat on Friday to win Group E and become the first African team to qualify for the ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Morocco Crush Niger 5-0 to Qualify for 2026 World Cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Morocco trounced 10-man Niger 5-0 in Rabat on Friday to win Group E and become the first African team to qualify for the ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-06T21:16:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-06T21:47:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/09\/sm_1757178708.057943.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Morocco Crush Niger 5-0 to Qualify for 2026 World Cup\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-06T21:16:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-06T21:47:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\"},\"wordCount\":175,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2025\/09\/sm_1757178708.057943.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/morocco-crush-niger-5-0-to-qualify-for-2026-world-cup\",\"name\":\"Morocco Crush Niger 5-0 to Qualify for 2026 World Cup - 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