Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
NRG Stadium hosted its final World Cup match on July 4, 2026, between Canada and Morocco.
Jeff Desmarais had been in Houston for a little more than 12 hours before he found himself packed into a crowd of Canada soccer fans marching to NRG Stadium for their World Cup match against Morocco on Saturday.
“Houston’s pretty nice, but, I mean, I landed yesterday at, like, 9 p.m.,” he told Houston Public Media, mid-march. Gesturing to the crowd surrounding him, he added, “This is it; this is what I’m seeing.”
In fact, the match may be nearly all he sees of Houston. He flies out Sunday morning, 24 hours after Canada’s round-of-16 match against Morocco on Saturday, July 4. The decision wasn’t last-minute, though: he had bought conditional tickets for the match, confident that Canada would make it this far.
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It’s a vote of confidence in the 30th-ranked Canadian team, which had never made it this far before. In fact, the team had never passed the group stage prior to this World Cup, let alone won a knockout-stage match, which Canada did June 28 with a 1-0 win against South Africa.
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It’s also likely one of the final moments of international tourists descending upon Houston en masse for the summer. This match is Houston’s final one for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, after which FIFA will begin moving out of NRG Stadium.
At the same time, a heat advisory was in place in Houston as many fans came to the stadium. Like many of the tourists before them, many told Houston Public Media that their first impression of Houston was the city’s heat.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
Canadian soccer fans march to NRG Stadium ahead of their match on July 4, 2026.
On Saturday morning, hundreds of Canada fans marched to the stadium, much as the Netherlands, Portugal, and Brazil fans had done prior to them. Yasmin Valji had flown in from Alberta to be a part of the crowd.
“We got to be part of the World Cup,” she said. “This is an experience for Canada, and we’re really hoping we get to win today.”
Canada’s challengers in Morocco, though, have proven a formidable opponent, having won all but one of its group stage matches. In the 2022 World Cup, Morocco, currently ranked sixth in the world, became the first African team to reach a World Cup semifinal.
Michael Adkison/Houston Public Media
Morocco soccer fans cheer outside of NRG Stadium ahead of their match on July 4, 2026.
“I think we surprised the world in the last World Cup in Qatar 2022,” Akram Shueb, a Moroccan fan, told Houston Public Media, standing outside NRG Stadium. “For people who did not know Morocco, we put Morocco on the map. I think there is more expectation this time.”
Though Canada, which is also co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Mexico and the United States, appeared to have more fans in attendance at NRG Stadium, it was hard to differentiate the two fan bases: both of their signature colors are red.
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Outside the stadium, Morocco fans worked to hype up their own base. Hiba Bnkhye, who is Moroccan but lives in Florida, was handing out whistles to fans in Moroccan shirts. She saw Morocco’s match in Boston against Scotland, and she had her family with her in Houston to watch the match on Saturday.
“I feel like it brings a small piece of home here,” she said.