Morocco 1-0 Syria Highlights, FIFA Arab Cup QF: Azaro Gives 10-Man Atlas Lions Late Win – As It Happened

Hello, football fans! We are ready with our live blog covering the first FIFA Arab Cup 2025 quarter-final between Morocco and Syria. Stay tuned for pre-match updates and line-ups as they are released.

• Fixture: Morocco vs Syria, Quarter-final 1

• Venue: Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar

• Date: Thursday, December 11, 2025

• Time: 8:00 PM IST

• Live Streaming: Alkass YouTube channel, Shoof

Starting XI: El Mehdi Benabid; Mohamed Boulacsout, Soufiane Bouftini, Marwane Saadane, Hamza El Moussaoui; Ousamma Tannane, Mohamed Rabie Hrimat (c); Karim El Berkaoui, Walid Er Karti, Amine Zouhzouh; Tarik Tissoudali.

Bench: Rachid Ghanimi (gk), Salaheddine Chihab (gk), Anas Bach, Mahmoud Bentayg, Mohamed Moufid, Marouane Louadni, Sabir Bougrine, Mounir Chouair, Ashraf El Mahdioui, Walid Azarou.

Starting XI: Elias Hadaya; Zakaria Hannan, Ahmad Faqa, Abd Al Razaq Al Mohammad, Khaled Kerdagli; Simon Amin, Elmar Abraham; Mohammad Alsalkhadi, Mahmoud Al Mawas (c), Mahmoud Al Aswad; Antonio Yakub.

Bench: Shaher Al Shakhir (gk), Maksim Sarraf (gk), Khaled Al-Hajjah, Abdullah Al Shami, Alan Aussi, Mahmoud Nayef, Hasan Dahan, Mohammad Anez, Anas Dahhan, Omar Kharbin, Yaseen Samia, Mohammad Al-Hallaq.

Morocco and Syria have played three matches so far, and all three have been won by Morocco. The results are:

• Morocco 2-0 Syria (Friendly, 1981)

• Syria 0-2 Morocco (Friendly, 1977)

• Morocco 1-0 Syria (Mediterranean Games, 1963)

Referee Cristian Garay blows his whistle, and Syria get tonight's first quarter-final underway, and the Qasioun Eagles are on the attack right away. Stay tuned for live updates from the game!

Syria have been absolutely dominant in the opening exchanges of the game, with almost three-fourths of the ball. They are winning all the 50-50s and the midfield battle. Al Mawas has the first shot of the night for the Qasioun Eagles, but it sails wide of the right post.

Morocco are now trying to move forward after Syria's initial pressure. The Atlas Lions win a corner from a deflected cross. The resulting ball into the box is not cleared by the defence, and Morocco get a shot away. But Hadaya gets down and holds on to the ball.

Morocco threaten Hadaya's box again. A floated ball into the box is met by a towering header from Zouhzouh, but Hadaya stretches to tip it over the bar.

There's a bit of corner on the pitch. A floated ball in the box saw Tissoudali challenge for it, but he clattered into the back of Hadaya and fell down. The Syrian goalkeeper, too, ended up going down, having hurt himself in the back, but the stretcher is out for the Moroccan forward.

Tissoudali manages to sit up, which is always encouraging, but he is in no state to continue. He is stretchered off the pitch, and is replaced by Walid Azaro.

Another bit of controversy. A lobbed ball was played into the box, and while Al-Aswad was challenging for it, Saadane clattered into his back. There's a check for penalty from VAR.

Although earlier it seems like the review will lead to nothing, the referee is asked to take another look at it on the pitch-side monitor. After just one look, Cristian Garay sticks with his decision: No Penalty!

Morocco are starting to tighten their grip over the match. A brilliant bit of interplay in the Syrian box leads to a scissor kick from El Berkaoui, but it whizzes just past the post

Extreme pressure from Morocco, and it looks like the Atlas Lions might just sneak in a goal before the break. They will have seven added minutes to do that, but Syria's defence is holding strong for now.

It was an intensely fought first half, which the referee brings to an end. Syria will be slightly happier of the two sides, having been on the back foot for most of the half, but still protecting the clean sheet so far. A big second half awaits.

The referee blows the whistle, and Morocco get the ball rolling in the second half. No changes for either side as far as I can see. Will we see more of the attacking football that we saw in the first half? Stay tuned!

Morocco have begun the second half right where they left off. A brilliant cross from Boulacsout was destined for the head of El Berkaoui, but the defender got a vital touch to put it behind. Syria failed to clear the resulting corner, and it was almost deflected into their own net after bouncing against the goalkeeper and a defender.

As we approach the hour mark, Syria make their first change of the night, with Amin being replaced by Mohammad Amin. The Qasioun Eagles have been struggling to match Morocco's pace for smoe time now, and the manager will be hoping that this change will inject some freshness on the pitch.

Morocco have continued to dominate the tempo oof the game, but so far, they are unable to break the Syrian backline and seriously test Hadaya. Walid Regraui reacts ith a triple change. El Karti, El Moussaoui, and Zouhzou come off. Taking their places are El Mahdioui, Chouair, and Bentayg.

Tannane forces a good save from Hadaya after a whipped effort from the edge of the box, but the resulting corner is partially cleared by Syria. The ball is worked into the Syrian box again, and El Berkaoui turns and has a shot that flies over the bar.

What a world class save from Hadaya!! A brilliant corner from the right is headed with accuracy by El Mahdioui, but Hadaya dives to his right and gets a strong arm to parry the danger away. The goalkeeper is single-handedly keeping his side in the tie.

Azaro puts Morocco ahead towads the end!! A through ball from the middle leads to an effort from 30 yards away by Chouair. Hadaya makes a comfortable save, but fails to hold on to it. Azaro is rewarded for tracking the ball as he rolls it into an empty net.

The first of the six added minutes begins in the worst possible way for Morocco, as Moufid, who came on the pitch just four minutes ago, sees a straight red card. The full-back stamped on the back of Dahhan's ankle, and after a VAR review, the referee sends him off.

The referee blows the whistle, and the match comes to an end. After a pretty one-sided game, the match turned after the red card, with Syria giving it their all in search of the equaliser. However, the Moroccan backline held firm and saw the win through, and even had chances to double their lead. For now, it's Morocco who move on to the semi-finals, while Syria crash out.