Morocco beat Canada 3-0 in Houston on Saturday to become the first team at the World Cup to progress to the quarterfinals. Two goals from Azzedine Ounahi and one from Soufiane Rahimi made the difference for the Atlas Lions.
Game Summary
Despite star Alphonso Davies starting the match on the bench, Canada began the game brightly, pressing Morocco and threatening its goal frequently throughout the first quarter of the match. However, Morocco’s Yassine Bounou made a great save to deny Canada’s Tani Oluwaseyi an early lead.
Morocco’s best passages of play happened after a tussle between Achraf Hakimi and Canada’s Richie Laryea, which resulted in yellow cards for both players. The second half began with Canada in control, but Morocco changed the game with a free kick near the corner of the box, which Ounahi curled into the bottom right corner to make it 1-0.
Morocco put the game away in the 82nd minute on an impressive counterattack, with Brahim Díaz laying the ball back to Ounahi to score his second goal. The final score was 3-0 after Rahimi shot across goal past Maxime Crepeau to put a flourish on the Atlas Lions’ performance.
Original reporting: El Paso News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
