• 
  

Morocco 4-2 Haiti: My Tactical Analysis - How Regragui's Halftime Talk Changed Everything

I watched this game live yesterday at 11 PM Casablanca time, and I have to say - the first half had me worried.

Morocco started slow against Haiti yesterday, and honestly, I thought we were going to drop points. Haiti's press in the first 20 minutes was intense - they forced 3 mistakes from our midfield. But what happened after halftime was pure Walid Regragui masterclass.

First Half: What Went Wrong (0-1)

Haiti scored in the 23rd minute after a defensive error from Aguerd. I rewatched the goal 3 times - it was clear that Mazraoui was too high up, leaving a huge gap behind him. Haiti exploited that perfectly.

Stats from first half that worried me:

• Morocco: 58% possession but only 1 shot on target
• Haiti: 4 shots, 2 on target, 1 goal
• Our midfield lost 7 duels in central area

I tweeted at halftime that Regragui needs to bring El Khannouss earlier. And guess what? He did.

Second Half: 3 Changes That Won The Game

1. El Khannouss for Ounahi (46') - This changed everything. Ounahi had 0 key passes in first half, El Khannouss created 3 in 20 minutes. The difference is creativity.

2. Moving Ziyech to the left - In first half, Ziyech was isolated on the right against 2 defenders. After moving left in 55th minute, he got 1v1 situations and created the equalizer.

3. High press after 60th minute - I noticed Morocco pressed Haiti's backline much higher after 60'. Result? 2 goals from forced errors (62' and 78').

My Man of The Match: Bilal El Khannouss

Not Hakimi, not Ziyech. El Khannouss. Why? Because when he came on, our xG went from 0.4 to 2.1 in 30 minutes. He had:

• 3 key passes (most in team)
• 92% pass accuracy
• 1 assist + 1 pre-assist

He's only 21, but he plays like he's 30. This kid will be key for AFCON 2026.

What This Means for AFCON 2026

Look, beating Haiti 4-2 is not impressive on paper. But the way we came back shows character. In AFCON, we will concede first - it happens. Yesterday proved we can come back.

My concern? Defense. If Haiti scored 2, what will Senegal or Egypt do? Regragui needs to fix the space behind Mazraoui before December.

Final thought: I give this performance 7/10. Great comeback, but first half was 4/10. We need 90 minutes of second-half intensity to win AFCON.

What did you think of the game? Did you agree with El Khannouss as MOTM? Let me know in comments.