Ounahi’s double sends Morocco past Canada and into the World Cup quarter-finals

Morocco needed only a second-half surge to end Canada’s World Cup, Azzedine Ounahi scoring twice and Soufiane Rahimi adding a stoppage-time third in a 3-0 win at NRG Stadium in Houston. The result, settled overnight in India, carried the Atlas Lions into the quarter-finals and sent one of the three co-hosts out in the last 16.

A dull first half, then Ounahi

For 45 minutes there was almost nothing between the sides. Canada, backed by a noisy home crowd, pressed with real intent and shaded a cagey opening period, yet they could not find a way past a Moroccan side happy to sit in and wait for its moment. That patience paid off five minutes after the restart. Achraf Hakimi’s free kick from the right found Ounahi, who steered a low finish through a cluster of bodies and beyond Maxime Crepeau.

The goal drained the belief out of Canada. Ounahi doubled the lead in the 82nd minute, breaking into the same right-hand channel and crashing his shot high past Crepeau to put the result beyond doubt. Rahimi, on from the bench, then slid home on the counter deep into stoppage time, the eighth minute of it, to make the margin look every bit as comfortable as the second half had been.

Canada’s breakthrough run ends

Defeat closed the book on a tournament Canada will remember warmly whatever the final scoreline said. On home soil they claimed the first World Cup win in their history and reached the knockout rounds for the first time, a genuine step forward for a programme that arrived with modest expectations. Against Morocco, the gap in tournament nous told once the game opened up, and they became the first of the co-hosts, alongside the United States and Mexico, to leave the party. Coach Jesse Marsch still felt his players had been “the better team” on the night, a reading the three-goal margin did little to support.

Morocco march on

For Morocco this was a statement of intent as much as a win. Semi-finalists in 2022, they have carried that pedigree into North America and now reach the last eight for only the second time in their history. Two more victories would take them back to the final four. A quarter-final against the winner of France and Paraguay awaits, and on this evidence the Atlas Lions will fancy their chances against either.

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