The future is bright for Canada even though the present is clouded by a 3-0 loss to Morocco in the round of 16 at Houston on Saturday. To be fair, the score was not indicative of how the Canadians had the No. 6 team in the world on the ropes in the first half and doesn’t diminish the fact that the Canadians went further in this World Cup than any previous foray.
Despite key injuries and the novelty of playing the big boys on the biggest stage, coach Jesse Marsch as only he can be, was ebullient when looking ahead.
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“I’d rather be us than them,” he said. “As good as Morocco is, I’d rather be us, right? I’m really proud of our guys. We went after the game, they’re hurting right now, but my goodness, I couldn’t be prouder.
“What a privilege our fans have had to root for a team like this that goes after the game, that doesn’t play defensive, that shows that they can be better. Of course, we have to be in these situations more and more and then we have to find ways to succeed and then we have to build from that. But what a great team.”
But no matter how Marsch feels, Morocco took advantage of their chances while Canada failed to pounce early in the physical match. There were four yellow cards apiece and Canada had 24 fouls to 14 for Morocco.
Azzedine Ounahi gave Morocco the lead in the 50th minute and added another in the 82nd minute on a breakout before Soufiane Rahimi scored against a pressing Canada in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Morocco, unbeaten in 34 matches, play July 9 in Foxborough, Mass., against France, a 1-0 winner over Paraguay on Saturday.
Morocco suffered a major blow in the 22nd minute when leading scorer Ismael Saibari had to leave with a possible hamstring injury. The 25-year-old attacking midfielder scored in all three group matches and on Wednesday it was announced he was joining Germany’s Bayern Munich from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.
After a listless first half, Morocco stunned Canada with a goal from nowhere on only their second shot of the match.
Achraf Hakimi lined up for a free kick to the right of the goal after a yellow card, the seventh of the match, to Canada’s Luc de Fougerolles for a sloppy foul on Soufiane Rahimi.
“We had 11 incredible performances in the first half, we were unlucky not to get the lead,” Marsch said. “We should have been on top of the game. We should have had the lead, and then it’s the fine details, right? “Like, do we need to foul on the sideline, and then dealing with the set piece, but they have quality.”
Ounahi scored an insurance goal to become the first Moroccan to score twice in a World Cup match since Salaheddine Bassir in 1998 against Scotland.
“I think everybody back home should be very proud,” Canada midfielder Stephen Eustaquio said. “We always felt the love back home from the Canadians. We’re finally a soccer country. We need this support to go forward.
“We’re going to enter another cycle of four years. Everybody, the youngsters here, they need (the fans’) support throughout the four years so that we make sure that we can go even further in the next World Cup.”
Being healthy would help. Canada was dealt a serious setback in the second group match vs. Qatar when midfielder Ismael Kone broke his leg after a horrendous tackle against him.
Also, captain Alphonso Davies, who sustained a hamstring injury in early May playing for Germany’s Bayern Munich, made only one appearance in the World Cup – the final 15 minutes against South Africa in the round of 32.
Still, Marsch was defiant to the end in praising his team’s effort against Morocco.
“We were the better team,” he said. “They made a couple more plays than us. … It was just they have a little bit of quality in the final third, but we lacked a little ability to make a play when we needed to.”
That makes him even more anxious for 2030.
“I think that there’s real excitement and with that excitement comes higher expectations,” he said. “So next World Cup, everyone’s going to say that anything less than the round of 16 is a failure, right? Anything less than the next Copa America semifinals is a failure.
“We enjoy those expectations. Nobody has higher expectations of ourselves than us. Nobody’s more disappointed in the fact that we lost the game that we were very much in control of than ourselves and so we have to swallow that pride. We have to continue to think about how to get better, be humble to the fact that we have a lot more to work to do.”