Victoria watch party ends in heartbreak as Canada falls to Morocco<\/p>\n
Published 2:10 pm Saturday, July 4, 2026<\/p>\n
Hundreds of fans packed Victoria\u2019s Market Square on Saturday morning, hoping to watch Canada\u2019s historic FIFA World Cup run continue.<\/p>\n
Instead, supporters watched Canada\u2019s tournament come to an end as Morocco earned a 3-0 victory in the Round of 16, eliminating the Canadians from the competition.<\/p>\n
Red-and-white jerseys filled the downtown plaza as fans gathered around the giant outdoor screen for another Downtown Victoria Business Association Summer of Soccer watch party. Throughout the match, cheers erupted for every Canadian chance before the mood shifted as Morocco took control.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was sad,\u201d said local resident Keysa Mundl. \u201cBut we tried, so trying is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the result, Mundl said the atmosphere throughout Canada\u2019s World Cup campaign has been unforgettable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love when people are able to come out and cheer as a community,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s been the best part of Canada being in it, I think, is the community support and bringing people together.\u201d<\/p>\n
With Canada\u2019s tournament now over, Mundl said she plans to support Mexico for the remainder of the competition because of friends with ties to the country.<\/p>\n
For Gavin Baerg, who travelled from B.C.\u2018s South Okanagan, Saturday marked his first visit to one of Victoria\u2019s World Cup watch parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty bummed and sad that they lost,\u201d Baerg said. \u201cBut I really think we did play pretty hard. I was really happy to see everyone out here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Mundl, Baerg said he\u2019ll now cheer for Mexico for the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Not everyone in the crowd was wearing red.<\/p>\n
Mexico supporter Christian Asakura offered words of encouragement to disappointed Canadian fans after the final whistle.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t give up,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is just the beginning. You guys have been growing in football. You already won a Gold Cup and have some of the best players in the continent. Keep looking forward to 2030.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although Canada\u2019s World Cup journey ended earlier than supporters had hoped, many fans remained in Market Square after the match, applauding the national team\u2019s performance and reflecting on a tournament that united communities across Victoria.<\/p>\n
Throughout the World Cup, thousands gathered downtown for public watch parties, celebrating Canada\u2019s first goal, first victory and first appearance in the knockout stage before Saturday\u2019s elimination. Saturday\u2019s crowd once again showed the growing enthusiasm for soccer in the capital region, even in defeat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victoria watch party ends in heartbreak as Canada falls to Morocco Published 2:10 pm Saturday, July 4, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":780652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-780651","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=780651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/780652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=780651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=780651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=780651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}