The Moroccan national team qualified for the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup after defeating Canada with a three-goal victory in the round of 16.
Azzedine Ounahi
Club: Girona
Morocco defeated Canada, one of the host countries of the tournament along with the USA and Mexico, reaching the quarter-finals of the World Cup for the second consecutive time.
The Moroccan national team will meet the winner of the France and Paraguay match in the quarter-finals.
Morocco became the first African team to reach the World Cup quarter-finals twice in a row.
Morocco's three goals were scored by Azzedine Ounahi with two goals, and a goal by Sofiane Rahimi in injury time.
Innocence of Shawali
With the main Moroccan commentator for the match, Jawad Badda, the Tunisian Issam Shawali was present on a second channel.
Since the beginning of the World Cup, Shawali has not been lucky in his commentary on matches of Arab or African teams, and all of them left the tournament during his commentary.
This made Issam Shawali jokingly mock himself on air during his commentary on one of the matches, pointing to the bad luck of the teams he comments on.
With the revelation of Issam Shawali's presence as a commentator on the match, some began to worry about the Moroccan team in the Canada match.
But Azzedine Ounahi vindicated Issam Shawali by scoring a double in Morocco's victory over Canada, ending the idea of bad luck for Arab and African teams with Issam Shawali.
Match description
The Canadian team appeared better in the first half and missed more than one opportunity, the most dangerous of which was in the 10th minute with a complete breakaway by Tani Alwasi, but Yassine Bounou excelled in front of him and saved the ball brilliantly.
The Moroccan team received a strong blow with the injury of its star Ismail Saibari, who left the field in the 22nd minute and was replaced by Sofiane Rahimi.
At the start of the second half, the Moroccan team succeeded in scoring the opening goal in the 50th minute by Azzedine Ounahi.
The goal came after a foul executed by Achraf Hakimi on the ground, which Ounahi met with a ground shot that went to the left of the goalkeeper.
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Ounahi puts Morocco ahead 🎯pic.twitter.com/NonJuNtvK3
— FilGoal (@FilGoal) July 4, 2026
Yassine Bounou shone and saved a chance for an equalizer with a rocket shot from outside the penalty area in the 78th minute, deflecting it to a corner.
With a counterattack, the Moroccan team added the second goal in the 82nd minute through Azzedine Ounahi.
Ounahi scored the goal with a direct shot after a pass from Brahim Diaz.
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Ounahi continues his brilliance and creativity against Canada and scores Morocco's second goal ✨pic.twitter.com/6tjKLh2SQn
— FilGoal (@FilGoal) July 4, 2026
In the 90+7 minute, with another counterattack, Sofiane Rahimi completed Morocco's hat-trick with a left-footed shot into Canada's net.
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Rahimi shows no mercy in front of the goal ⚽pic.twitter.com/YyIkiBZ6gr
— FilGoal (@FilGoal) July 4, 2026
The match ended with Morocco winning three to nil.
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