Morocco advanced to the World Cup quarter-finals with a 3-0 win over co-hosts Canada in Houston, strengthening their status as genuine contenders. Azzedine Ounahi struck twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a late third as Mohamed Ouahbi’s team set up a last-eight clash with tournament favourites France.

Ouahbi insisted Morocco’s progress is no longer a surprise after another commanding knockout performance. “We’re no longer a surprise today, and that’s a great source of pride, he said. I think this is only the beginning and I hope we’ll keep producing this kind of run for many years.” Morocco now become the first African side to reach consecutive World Cup quarter-finals.

The Atlas Lions’ sustained success in the knockout rounds underlined their growing stature on the global stage. The four World Cup knockout ties they have now won equal the combined total of every other African nation. Their current run follows the semi-final appearance in Qatar four years ago, when Morocco also exceeded initial outside expectations.

Despite the comfortable scoreline, Canada applied heavy pressure for long spells, particularly before half-time. Morocco absorbed that pressure, then struck with ruthless finishing after the break. Ounahi’s first goal came from a rehearsed free-kick move on the edge of the area. The midfielder then drilled a fierce shot into the top-right corner, before Rahimi finished a counter-attack to complete the scoring.

Canada head coach Jesse Marsch argued the co-hosts had been superior, even without injured star Alphonso Davies. Canada attempted 10 shots to Morocco’s five and edged the expected goals data by 0.84 to 0.82. Marsch also stated that, as good as Morocco are, “I’d rather be us than them.” Those remarks drew a firm response from Ouahbi.

Ouahbi disagreed with that evaluation, pointing to the scoreline and Morocco’s defensive control. “They were good, but it takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-0, he replied, when asked about Marsch’s comments. There was only one save from [Yassine] Bounou. In the second half, Canada were good, but they lacked efficiency.” Ouahbi highlighted how Morocco then exploited central spaces on transition.

Key match statistics and tournament probabilities underlined both the balance of play and Morocco’s challenge ahead.

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Ouahbi stressed that difficult spells are normal at this stage and praised the squad’s mentality. As I always tell the players, we are playing in the World Cup, so we will go through difficult moments. It is not normal to play every match comfortably. When we are not at our best, we must stay united. In those moments, we remember who we are playing for, and that is exactly what the players showed during the match.

Morocco did suffer a concern when key forward Ismael Saibari appeared to injure a hamstring and left the pitch on 22 minutes, with Rahimi introduced. Looking ahead, the Opta supercomputer gives Morocco a 25.1% chance of eliminating France on Thursday and a 3.9% probability of lifting the World Cup, figures that underline both the scale of their task and their genuine competitiveness.

Ounahi praised the group’s resolve around the Canada match and across the tournament. “The team’s response was one of great strength and character. We faced many problems, even off the pitch, and there were a lot of difficulties. They tried to put obstacles in our way, but we stayed focused. At half-time, we tried to fix a few things and, thank God, we managed to solve them.” Morocco now enter the quarter-finals with confidence built on results, resilience and historic achievement.