Morocco crush Canada to qualify for World Cup quarter-finals

The Moroccan national team booked its place in the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup, after beating its Canadian counterpart by three goals for nothing, in the match that brought them together in the round of 16 competitions.

The hat-trick of the Atlas Lions, Azzedine Ounahi (50, 82), and Sofiane Rahimi (90+8), scored the hat-trick, and in its seventh and third consecutive participation in the World Cup, the Moroccan national team continued to write history, and qualified for this round for the second time in a row, after its strong presence in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

 The two teams met in the group stage of the last World Cup held in Qatar in 2022, where Morocco won by two goals to one, and  the Moroccan national team awaits the winner of the match between France and Paraguay in the next round.

Atlas Lions break Algerian record

Morocco have taken their tally to 10 goals in their current involvement, drawing with Brazil 1-1, beating Scotland 1-0, Haiti 4-2 and drawing with the Netherlands 1-1 before Canada's hat-trick.

In doing so, the Moroccan national team broke the previous Arab record, held by the Algerian team, after scoring 7 goals in the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil.

Overall, Morocco is the highest scorer among Arab teams in the history of the World Cup, with 30 goals in 27 matches over 7 editions,  and Morocco became the first Arab and African team to qualify for the quarter-finals of the World Cup in two consecutive editions

The Atlas Lions previously reached the golden square of the World Cup during the last edition of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, as the first Arab and African team to achieve this feat.

Cyber injury

The match witnessed the injury of the Moroccan national team striker Ismail Sibari, who left the stadium about 15 minutes after the start of the "Atlas Lions" match against Canada, on Saturday, in the round of 16 of the tournament, which was held in the city of Houston.

Sibari's exit was a major blow to the Moroccan national team, after they shone in the group stage and scored three goals.

The 25-year-old Sibari, who has scored 12 goals in 35 international appearances for Morocco, grabbed his thigh muscles before leaving the pitch and striker Sofiane Rahimi came on as his replacement.

Sibari is one of the most prominent stars of the tournament, and German club Bayern Munich announced a few days ago that he had signed him from Eindhoven in a deal worth 50 million euros (about $57 million), according to media reports.