Morocco, the No. 7 team in FIFA's rankings, was a World Cup semi-finalist in 2022. It comes into Saturday's match against Canada having defeated one of the tournament favourites, Netherlands, in penalty kicks.CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images
No one in Morocco needs reminding of the Canadian men’s rapid rise through the FIFA world rankings over the last decade or so.
The Atlas Lions have undergone much the same journey. Only better.
From 92nd in the world in June, 2015 – Canada was 109th at the same point – Morocco has surged all the way up to seventh in the most recent rankings. Along the way the team became the first African and first Arab country to reach the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar in 2022, before capturing its second African Cup of Nations this past January, albeit in controversial circumstances.
Now, following its penalty-shootout victory over Netherlands on Monday night, it will head into a round of 16 match against Jesse Marsch’s buoyant Canadian squad, which breathed its own sigh of relief after a last-gasp victory over South Africa on Sunday.
Heading into the tournament, Marsch had hoped his 30th-ranked team could make a run, not only to inspire his adopted country and its many soccer converts, but also to take on one of “the giants of the world.”
Saturday in Houston, he will get his wish.
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Led by star right back Achraf Hakimi – a two-time Champions League winner with Paris St-Germain – Morocco shocked everyone four years ago, dumping out both Spain and Portugal on its way to a hard-fought semi-final loss against France. Even Spanish star Lamine Yamal was impressed, supporting the country of his father’s birth in that tournament and briefly flirting with the idea of playing for the Atlas Lions before ultimately committing to Spain.
Since then, Morocco has become something of a global powerhouse, feeding players into many of Europe’s top leagues.
Playmaker Brahim Diaz is at Real Madrid, while some of the planet’s biggest clubs are currently lining up to sign midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi for fees in excess of US$130-million. Meanwhile, striker Ismael Saibari, who scored the winning penalty in the shootout against Netherlands, will line up alongside Canadian captain Alphonso Davies next season at Bayern Munich after recently agreeing to a switch from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.
Of course, Davies and the rest of the Canadian players need no reminder of exactly how good this Morocco team is, with 13 of the current squad also present in Qatar when the two sides met in the group stage. Having already been eliminated after back-to-back losses to Belgium and Croatia, Canada was playing for pride, but fell 2-1 in what was the most recent meeting between the two teams.
Alphonso Davies took his team's loss at the 2022 World Cup to Morocco hard. The 2-1 setback ended Canada's tournament.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Canada has never beaten Morocco, with its best result in four matches being a 1-1 draw in a Montreal friendly in 1994.
That meeting is not the only Montreal connection between the two teams. Goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was born there – one of 19 squad members born outside Morocco – before moving to Casablanca at age 3, and Canada will need little reminder of the huge obstacle he will present on Saturday, particularly if the match goes to a shootout.
Bounou saved two of the three penalties he faced in the 3-0 shootout win over Spain in the last 16 four years ago, and saved another against the Dutch in a wild affair on Monday.
He also saved two of the four he faced against Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations semi-final in January, which booked host Morocco’s passage through to the controversial final, eventually awarded to Morocco after Senegal was punished for staging a walk-off protest following a late penalty decision.
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Since then, Morocco had to undergo a switch in the dugout. Walid Regragui, who had coached the team for the past four years, resigned three months before the World Cup, with Mohamed Ouahbi taking his place.
The 49-year-old is no stranger to success at international tournaments, having guided the under-20 team to its first World Cup in Chile last year. That roster – which included current senior squad member Gessime Yassine, nicknamed the “Moroccan Messi” – won it the hard way, too, overcoming Spain, Brazil, France and Argentina on its way to victory.
Yassine has made an impact in this World Cup too, scoring the fourth goal in a 4-2 win over Haiti that ensured Morocco advanced as the runner-up in Group C, behind a Brazil team that it played to a hard-fought 1-1 draw in the opener. Morocco also beat Scotland thanks to a single goal from Saibari, one of three he has scored so far.
But much like Canada, Morocco was forced to dig deep to reach the round of 16, displaying some of the resilience it developed four years ago. The team looked to be heading out until centre back Issa Diop, who plays for Fulham in the English Premier League, got on the end of an inviting cross from fellow EPL regular Chemsdine Talbi in second-half stoppage time to stave off elimination.
The fortitude of both teams is set to be tested in Houston on Saturday. While Marsch’s players are into uncharted territory at a World Cup, lining up across from them will be a team that’s very much an evolutionary blueprint for Canada to aspire to. Morocco had never had a win in the knockout stage of the World Cup before Qatar, and has shown Canada – and anybody else paying attention – what can happen with a successful tournament run.
The world awaits the outcome.