World Cup: Morocco advance at Canada's expense despite Saibari's injury setback | OneFootball

Morocco are through to the quarter-final of the 2026 World Cup after a hard-fought win over Canada in Houston. Azzedine Ounhai was the star performer with two composed finishes against the co-hosts.

The 2022 World Cup breakout star scored the opening goal of the game with a well-executed free-kick routine that involved ex-Borussia Dortmund fullback Achraf Hakimi. He doubled their advantage less than ten minutes to go with a perfect counterattack move.

The Atlas Lions had a very difficult first-half, which also saw Ismael Saibari substituted off for an injury. FC Bayern's new signing was the star player in Morocco’s first four games, and he'll hope to be available for the rest of the tournament. Similarly, his new club will now have to wait for further tests to understand the extent of his injury.

Mohamed Ouahbi's side received the lion's share of yellow cards (4/6) by Michael Oliver in the hard-fought first 45 minutes encounter. After the break, they managed to repeat the attacking spark they showed throughout the tournament. 

Canadian-born Bono made a decent save before Ounahi's second goal put the game beyond Jesse Marsch's side. Soufiane Rahimi, who takes Saibari's place, added a third goal in injury-time with another counterattack move. After his miserable penalty-kick miss in the AFCON final, Brahim Diaz continues to deliver for Morocco as he provided the assists for the last couple of goals.

After playing his first minutes of the tournament in Round of 32, Alphonso Davies was once again an unused substitute for Canada. With the ex-RB Leipzig coach, the co-hosts recorded their first two victories of the competition.

Morocco will hope to reach back-to-back semi-finals when they face the winners of France and Paraguay in the quarter-final. They missed out on reaching the final four years ago after a defeat to France.