MOROCCO END CANADA DREAM
Morocco booked their place in the last eight earlier on Saturday after ending co-host Canada’s World Cup campaign with a clinical 3-0 victory in Houston.
Two goals from Azzedine Ounahi and an injury-time effort from Soufiane Rahimi sealed the win for Morocco at the NRG Stadium.
The reigning African champions, who had produced a superb performance to eliminate the Netherlands in the last 32, were made to work hard for victory by a Canada side who dominated the early exchanges of a physical contest.
But Morocco made the crucial breakthrough just after half-time when Ounahi swept in a powerful low shot from the edge of the area.
Ounahi made victory inevitable eight minutes from time with his second before Rahimi’s late goal on the counter-attack left Canada heading for the tournament exit.
“We are very happy,” Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi said.
“It’s a World Cup match and these are difficult games with teams playing for their lives. Canada were impressive – they played a top match. It was no surprise for us but in the second half we were able to profit from the space they left us – that was the key.”
Morocco are the first African nation to reach the quarter-finals in back-to-back World Cups, providing yet further evidence of the team’s emergence among the world’s elite footballing nations.
“We’re no longer a surprise today and that’s a great source of pride,” Ouahbi said.
“I think this is only the beginning and I hope we’ll keep producing this kind of run for many years.”
Canada coach Jesse Marsch said he believed his team had been the superior side but paid the price for poor finishing.
“We were the better team,” Marsch said. “It’s just they had a bit of quality in the final third and we lacked the ability to make a play when we needed to.”
Saturday’s games kicked off the round of 16 as the tournament reaches its final stages.
On Sunday, England face Mexico at the Estadio Azteca in a much-anticipated encounter while Brazil take on Norway at East Rutherford in New Jersey.
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