{"id":386374,"date":"2026-07-04T21:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T21:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386374\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T21:31:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T21:31:10","slug":"morocco-beats-world-cup-co-host-canada-3-0-advances-to-the-quarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/386374\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco beats World Cup co-host Canada 3-0, advances to the quarters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP Sports Writer<\/p>\n

HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Azzedine Ounahi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 win over Canada in the\u00a0World Cup<\/a>\u00a0round of 16 Saturday to make the country the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals more than once.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Morocco\u2019s second straight appearance in the quarterfinals after becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are no longer a surprise,\u201d coach Mohamed Ouahbi said through a translator. \u201cNow when people talk about Morocco we\u2019re a major contender and it\u2019s a great source of pride. I think it\u2019s only the beginning and I hope we continue to have runs like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neither team was able to break through until Ounahi took a free kick from Achraf Hakimi and made a right-footed shot through traffic from outside the box to the bottom right corner to put Morocco on top 1-0 in the 50th minute.<\/p>\n

Ounahi made it 2-0 on a right-footed shot from the middle of the box off a pass from Brahim D\u00edaz in the 82nd minute.<\/p>\n

Soufiane Rahimi added a goal in the final minute of stoppage time.<\/p>\n

Morocco advances to face the winner of Saturday\u2019s Paraguay-France match on Thursday at Boston Stadium.<\/p>\n

\"Morocco's<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Azzedine Ounahi, center, is congratulated by teammates after scoring his side\u2019s 2nd goal against Canada during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match in Houston, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)\n<\/p>\n

\"Morocco's<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Azzedine Ounahi (8), celebrates after scoring their second goal during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Canada and Morocco in Houston, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis)\n<\/p>\n

\"Morocco's<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Azzedine Ounahi (8) scores their second goal past Canada goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau (16) during the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Colombia and Ghana in Kansas City, Mo., Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)\n<\/p>\n

\"Morocco's<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Azzedine Ounahi (8) scores during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Canada and Morocco in Houston, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Eric Smith\n<\/p>\n

\"Morocco's<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Azzedine Ounahi celebrates after scoring his side\u2019s second goal against Canada during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match in Houston, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)\n<\/p>\n

\"Canada's<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s Stephen Eustaquio (7) reacts after the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between Canada and Morocco in Houston, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ashley Landis)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 6<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Azzedine Ounahi, center, is congratulated by teammates after scoring his side\u2019s 2nd goal against Canada during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match in Houston, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo\/David J. Phillip)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The loss ends a historic run for World Cup co-host Canada, which won its first-ever knockout round\u00a0with a 1-0 victory over South Africa<\/a>\u00a0to reach Saturday\u2019s match. The country was playing in the World Cup for just the third time and the run enchanted a nation that is normally far more interested in hockey than the pitch.<\/p>\n

Canada coach Jesse Marsch shared his postgame message to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told them that I was proud of them and I challenged them to understand that we can play like this all the time against the best teams in the world,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can be better on the day. And then the challenge is, can we hold that standard for 90 minutes?\u201d<\/p>\n

Morocco, which is ranked sixth in the FIFA rankings,\u00a0dispatched the Netherlands in a penalty shootout<\/a>\u00a0to reach the round of 16 and send the country to its earliest World Cup exit.<\/p>\n

Though Marsch mistakenly said Morocco is ranked one spot lower than it is, he lauded how his team performed against a squad of its caliber and of how Canada controlled the match for much of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way we pushed, the way we were in the match, the quality we showed, the overall impact in the match, we were better,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were better than the No. 7 team in the world today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouahbi had a strong response when told of those comments.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of intensity they were good,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were good for 98 minutes. Were they better? It\u2019s hard to say. It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-nil.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of intensity they were good. They were good for 98 minutes. Were they better, it\u2019s hard to say. It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-nil<\/p>\n

Canada had a couple of chances to score late. Jonathan David had a free kick from outside the box in the 78th minute, but his shot sailed over the crossbar.<\/p>\n

Just after that Tajon Buchanan\u2019s shot from about 30 yards was stopped with a diving save from goalkeeper Yassine Bounou. Bounou, who was born in Canada to Moroccan parents, had three saves to help Morocco to the win.<\/p>\n

This game was a rematch from the last World Cup when Morocco beat Canada 2-1 in the group stage in a tournament in which Morocco finished fourth.<\/p>\n

It was an extremely physical match with eight yellow cards being issued. Both teams received four.<\/p>\n

Hakimi and Canada\u2019s Richie Laryea received yellow cards in the 40th minute. Hakimi shoved Laryea to the ground and then Laryea pushed him and a minor scuffle ensued.<\/p>\n

Morocco midfielder Ismael Saibari left with an injury in the 22nd minute.<\/p>\n

See more of AP\u2019s World Cup coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By KRISTIE RIEKEN, AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) \u2014 Azzedine Ounahi scored twice to lead Morocco to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386375,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[155832,12672,152492,155833,74,76,75,5393],"class_list":["post-386374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-azzedine-ounahi","tag-canada","tag-morocco","tag-round-of-16","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386374"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386374\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}