Morocco thrash hosts Canada (3-0) as an Ounahi double books a quarter-final place
A brace from Azzedine Ounahi (50', 82') and a late Soufiane Rahimi strike (90') saw off a Canada side that tried but kept running aground. Morocco, who had already knocked out the Netherlands in the last 32, eliminate a host nation and will meet the winner of Paraguay-France in the quarters.
Morocco booked their place in the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup with a win as emphatic as it was deserved over Canada (3-0) at NRG Stadium in Houston, the Texans' retractable-roof arena that kept the Texan heat off the pitch. An Azzedine Ounahi double and a late Soufiane Rahimi strike sank a co-host that bows out of its home World Cup with nothing to show for its effort.
Jesse Marsch set Canada up in a 4-4-2 with Maxime Crépeau in goal, the strike pairing of Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi, and Stephen Eustaquio —scorer of the goal that beat South Africa in the last 32— as the midfield hub. Opposite them, Mohamed Ouahbi's Morocco lined up in a familiar 4-2-3-1: Yassine Bounou between the posts, Achraf Hakimi bombing forward, and the quality of Brahim Díaz and Azzedine Ounahi behind the striker. The first half finished goalless, with a willing Canada running into Morocco's defensive discipline.
The script changed after the break. In the 50th minute, Ounahi turned home a measured Hakimi cross to open the scoring. Trailing 0-1, Canada pushed forward and left gaps that Morocco exploited with surgical precision: on 82', Ounahi completed his double from a Brahim Díaz assist, and on 90' Rahimi rounded off the scoring, again served by an inspired Brahim who left with two assists. 3-0 and game over.
The numbers lay bare the North African efficiency: Morocco won with just five attempts —four of them on target— against Canada's eleven, the hosts swinging in no fewer than eleven corners yet barely troubling Bounou, with only three shots on target and an xG of 0.86. Ounahi, with his double, was named man of the match with an outstanding 9.2 rating, the highest of the game.
Morocco, who had already eliminated the Netherlands on penalties in the last 32 —repeating their Qatar 2022 script—, confirm their status as dangerous dark horses and reach the quarters, where the winner of tonight's Paraguay-France tie awaits. Canada, on the other hand, say goodbye in the last 16 of their own World Cup: the generation of Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies falls just short of the continental showpiece it had dreamed of headlining at home.