By Sachit Subba • Football • Jul 04, 2026 23:38 PM • 38 views
LOS ANGELES — For nearly an hour on Saturday, Morocco’s World Cup ambitions felt precarious as Canada pressed relentlessly to extend its historic tournament run. The final scoreline will live in the record books as a comfortable margin of victory, but the match was far tighter than that result suggests.
Ultimately, elite tournament pedigree and clinical execution won out. Exploiting an exhausted opponent’s structural fractures, Morocco struck three times in a devastating second-half display to secure a 3-0 victory. The triumph ends the co-hosts' historic, record-breaking run and propels the Atlas Lions into the World Cup quarter-finals for the second consecutive tournament.
The hero of the afternoon was Azzedine Ounahi, whose brilliant brace earned him a unique slice of history. Substitute Soufiane Rahimi added late gloss to a performance that sends Morocco into the quarter-finals to face the winner of France and Paraguay on July 9.
For the opening 45 minutes, however, Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi cut a visibly frustrated figure on the touchline, shaking his head at a succession of uncharacteristic unforced errors and misplaced passes. Energised by a raucous partisan crowd, Jesse Marsch’s Canada hunted in packs, suffocating the 2022 semi-finalists from the opening whistle.
The co-hosts should have been ahead from the start. Capitalising on a sloppy Moroccan turnover, Tani Oluwaseyi drove menacingly into the box and unleashed a low, venomous strike that required a sharp, trailing leg save from Yassine Bounou to keep the game scoreless. Morocco looked out of sorts, failing to register a single attempt on target until the 28th minute.
Compounding their early tactical anxiety, the North Africans lost their three-goal tournament talisman Ismael Saibari to a hamstring injury after just 22 minutes, necessitating the introduction of Rahimi. The replacement arrived amid an increasingly ill-tempered, feisty opening period, during which the referee brandished six yellow cards as both sides traded fierce physical challenges.
"It’s a World Cup match, and these are difficult games with teams playing for their lives," Ouahbi reflected after the match. "I have to recognise that Canada were impressive – they played a top match. It was no surprise for us, but in the second half we were able to profit from the space they left us – that was the key. We reacted very well after the break in the second balls and the duels."
Canada's tactical undoing came down to fine margins and the absence of their talisman, Alphonso Davies. The Bayern Munich star was forced to watch from the dugout due to persistent fitness issues. Davies later revealed that he had attempted to warm up but felt a warning twinge in his hamstring, leading to a mutual decision with the coaching staff that only fully fit players could take the field.
"Mentally for me it was tough," a visibly emotional Davies admitted. "Every game to sit there and watch, knowing you want to be on the pitch, it’s tough. At the end of the day, I knew I had to support the guys in a different way."
Without Davies' elite transitional threat, Canada paid a heavy price for their first-half profligacy just five minutes after the restart. Morocco unveiled a brilliantly orchestrated set-piece routine, as captain Achraf Hakimi slid a low, diagonal free-kick across the face of the area. Lurking entirely undetected 25 yards out, Ounahi met the delivery with a majestic, side-footed sweeping effort that curled precisely into the bottom corner.
The goal completely altered the psychological complexion of the match. Forced to chase an equaliser to keep their fairytale alive, Canada threw bodies forward, leaving themselves exposed to Morocco's trademark counter-attacking transitions.
In the 82nd minute, the hammer blow arrived. A lightning-fast four-on-two break saw Brahim Diaz drive into the heart of the Canadian defence before unselfishly teeing up Ounahi, who rifled a magnificent finish into the roof of the net. With that strike, Ounahi became the first African player to score a brace in a World Cup knockout match since Senegal’s Henri Camara against Sweden in 2002.
With Canada completely deflated, Rahimi capped a superb performance off the bench by putting the exclamation mark on another rapid breakaway, tapping home a late third to trigger wild celebrations among the travelling Moroccan contingent. Despite the defeat, Canada exits the global stage with its head held high, having secured its first-ever World Cup points and victories.
"They made a couple more plays than us, but cranking up the intensity was not the issue," Canada coach Jesse Marsch noted post-match. "It’s just they have a little bit more quality in the final third, and we lacked the ability to make a play when we needed it."
For Morocco, the dream continues. "They caused us a lot of problems with their pressing in the first half," admitted midfielder Neil El Aynaoui. "But the strength of this team for years now has been that we never give up, and today it went our way."
