Morocco ousts Canada. (Photo- GETTY)
Morocco vs Canada, FIFA World Cup 2026: Morocco has once again made history by reaching the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Cup. In the first match of the round of 16, Morocco defeated Canada 3-0. With this victory, Morocco became the first African country to reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup more than once. The Moroccan team, which had reached the semi-finals in the last World Cup of 2022, has reached the top-eight for the second consecutive time.
Morocco’s victory due to Azzedine Ounahi’s blast
In the first half of the match, both the teams were seen struggling to score goals and no one failed to penetrate the defence. But as soon as the second half started, the game changed. Azzedine Ounahi took a free-kick from Ashraf Hakimi and fired a brilliant right-footed shot from outside the box through the crowd and into the goal post. This goal gave Morocco a 1-0 lead. Then, after catching a precise pass from Ibrahim Diaz, Aunahi made another powerful right-footed shot right from the middle of the box and increased the team’s lead to 2-0.
In the last minutes of the match, Sufiyan Rahimi dashed Canada’s remaining hopes of a comeback by scoring another goal and making the score 3-0. With this defeat, the beautiful and historic journey of tournament co-host Canada ended. Canada had created a new football craze in its country by defeating South Africa 1-0 in the last match and reaching the knockout round for the first time, but it failed to reach the top-8.
Tremendous chaos was seen on the field
This match was a rematch of the group stage of the last World Cup between the two teams, where Morocco had defeated Canada 2-1. The sixth-ranked Morocco team, which had arrived here after ousting the Netherlands in a penalty shootout, looked completely dominant on the field. But during the match there was a lot of tension among the players. Due to which the referee had to show a total of 8 yellow cards. Both teams received 4 yellow cards each. At the same time, in the 40th minute of the game, there was a heated argument and even a scuffle between Ashraf Hakimi and Richie Laria of Canada, after which both were given yellow cards.
