Morocco booked their place in the 2026 World Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over co-hosts Canada in Houston on Saturday afternoon.
Canada controlled the first half but struggled to create genuine openings, with the two sides going into the break goalless. And Jesse Marsch’s side were punished for failing to make their dominance count as Azzedine Ounahi netted twice in the second half to settle the tie in Texas.
Morocco soaked up pressure from there and picked off the Canadians as they chased the game, with Soufiane Rahimi adding the third.
For Canada, their best-ever run at a World Cup has come to a heartbreaking end. As for Morocco, they will now await the winners of Paraguay vs France as they build brilliantly on their Qatar 2022 semi-final appearance.
Ounahi takes over after Saibari injury
Moroccan hearts will have sunk when Ismael Saibari was forced off through injury just 22 minutes into this match.
The 25-year-old – fresh from earning a move to Bayern Munich with a 19-goal season for PSV – has been one of the stars of this tournament, netting three goals in his first four appearances, including against Brazil in Morocco’s opening 1-1 draw.
However, they needn’t have worried, with the 2022 semi-finalists stacked with talent across the pitch and blending brilliantly as a team. When one man drops out, another will step up. In this instance, it was Azzedine Ounahi.
The Girona attacking midfielder popped up with two stunning second-half finishes to decide this match. The first was a low, sweeping effort from the edge of the box on the end of Achraf Hakimi’s clever free-kick delivery. The second was an emphatic piledriver into the top corner to finish off a lightning-fast Moroccan counter-attack, with Brahim Diaz doing excellent work in the box to set up Ounahi.
Ounahi’s brilliance in leading Morocco’s attack here wasn’t just limited to goals. The 26-year-old also completed two of three dribbles and returned the favour to his teammates with two chances created, while completing 33 passes and playing seven successful passes into the final third.
Simply put, he was the spark as Morocco flipped the script following a tough first half, and Canada simply couldn’t cope with him.
Morocco proved they can do it without Saibari, and Hakimi and Diaz provided three assists combined. This was a big statement from Mohamed Ouahbi’s men.
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Canada prove they belong despite heartbreaking defeat
As strong as Morocco are, the Canadians will still have been viewing this tie as an incredible opportunity to reach a World Cup quarter-final. After all, had the groups panned out differently, the Canucks could easily have been playing Brazil in this match.
The disappointment will only be magnified given how much they controlled the first half, outshooting Morocco 4-1 and having 13 touches in the opposition box to the Atlas Lions’ one. The second half saw the game slip away, with two quality goals doing the damage, and Canada being picked off with a third as they desperately tried to claw it back.
However, when the dust settles, there has to be immense pride in this team.
This is a nation that, prior to this tournament, had never even won a World Cup match, let alone reached the knockout rounds. Here, they rewrote history by finishing second in their group and beating South Africa in the last 32.
Even more remarkable is the fact that they did all that despite star man Alphonso Davies playing just 15 minutes at the tournament due to injury. He wasn’t even fit enough to come on at the end to try to help Canada salvage something here.
Youngsters like Nathan Saliba and Luc De Fougerolles have shown themselves to the world, while Tajon Buchanan, Jonathan David, et al. have shown their true class.
Most importantly, Canada have proved they belong on the World Cup stage and are here to stay.
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