Morocco’s Azzedine Ounahi and Soufiane Rahimi score goals past Canada in historic knockout match

As Azzedine Ounahi put Morocco ahead early in the second half, his coach Mohamed Ouahbi wagged a delighted finger. There was, perhaps, relief there too. In February he replaced the most successful coach in Morocco’s history, Walid Regragui, who may not have been popular by the end, but the idea that his successor might surpass his achievements seemed almost impossible. That may still be a way off but, five months on, Morocco have become the first African side to reach the World Cup quarter-finals twice – and there’s not much doubt that they’re playing better. Criticism of Regragui at the 2025 Cup of Nations, which Morocco hosted and may have won on appeal – although we’ll have to wait for the court of arbitration for sport ruling to be sure – seemed harsh to outsiders. He had taken Morocco to a World Cup semi-final and had lost only four of his 49 games in charge – among them that semi-final against France in Qatar and the third-place playoff against Croatia. Was he really overly defensive, or was that just the way Morocco had to play? Continue reading...

Azzedine Ounahi scored twice to lead Morocco to a 3-0 win over Canada in the World Cup round of 16 Saturday to make the country the first African nation to reach the quarterfinals more than once.

⚽️ World Cup kick-off: 6pm local time/11pm BST/8am AEST ⚽️ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email John Scotland: Gunn, Hanley, Hendry, Tierney, Patterson, McTominay, Ferguson, Robertson, McGinn, Christie, Adams. Subs: Kelly, Gordon, Hickey, Fletcher, Dykes, Stewart, Souttar, Hyam, Doak, Hirst, Shankland, McLean, Ralston, Curtis, McKenna. Morocco: Bounou, Hakimi, Diop, Riad, Mazraoui, El Aynaoui, Bouaddi, Diaz, Ounahi, El Khannous, Saibari. Subs: Mohamedi, Tagnaouti, Amrabat, Saadane, Talbi, Rahimi, El Ouahdi, El Mourabet, Yassine, Sbai, Belammari, El Kaabi, Amaimouni-Echghouyab, Halhal, Saleh-Eddine. In putting himself out front and centre Marsch has, arguably, given his players the room to feel their way into the roles, before meeting the moment. Out there in the rest of the world, some may already be tiring of Marsch’s excesses but Canada is revelling in his leadership. Thursday was both catharsis and crisis and Marsch led the country through both and left windmilling his arms for more. Continue reading...

Canadians run out of gas as Azzedine Ounahi scores twice in second half to secure spot in quarter-finals