Read for 5 minutes3 Jul 2026 08:53 PM IST
The day after defeating South Africa in the round of 32, Canada manager Jesse Marsh While his players were on a flight to Houston for a game against Morocco, he quickly changed plans and traveled to Monterrey.
Marsh wanted to watch his team’s potential round-of-16 opponents, the Netherlands and Morocco. He returned to the hotel in a panic: “Preparing for Morocco is like a terrible, terrible dream,” he later told the media. “It’s like, I don’t want to see them play. They’re too good.”
Not that Morocco have yet reached the glittering heights of the Qatar World Cup. They have been separated at times and dug deep for points, but start as absolute favorites to knock the co-hosts out of the competition.
Expectations are so low that Marsh calls the game a “free hit”, where his team will play without the burden of expectations or the pressure of playing in front of a home crowd, as was evidenced in the last group game against Switzerland. Whether Marsh, a fearsome midfielder in his day, was playing the underdog card is uncertain, but Canada’s ouster will not shock the world. Losing to a sixth-ranked team is nothing to be ashamed of. Already, this is the deepest run they have ever made in a World Cup. The country will not go into mourning. “Let’s pretend we have nothing to lose. Everyone expects us to lose, so let’s really go for it,” he said.
But they could drink from the oasis of hope. The competition has become a hymn to the underdog’s spirit; Paraguay beat four-time world champions Germany; Congo led England for almost 70 minutes; Cape Verde led Uruguay, Spain and Saudi Arabia. And Canada has, in theory, a stronger, more systematic group of individuals than the sides mentioned above.
They have deeper gears than teams think. Team Identity was a high-energy, emotion-driven game anchored by shape-shifting structures. There were elements of chaos similar to Marsh’s Leeds days under Marcelo Bielsa. But in the pre-World Cup friendlies against South Africa and Colombia, they showed they can be a well-organized group when they defend in a compact mid-block, pressing aggressively and blocking opponents. Against South Africa, they were happy not to take possession, and only got on the front foot when the chances were most welcome. Morocco are not the happiest when tasked with breaching well-knit defensive blocks.
Lives on hope
The Canadians can switch between gears seamlessly, their transitions are quick, and unlike the other teams they’ve faced so far, Morocco’s desire is to attack, not isolate into low blocks. Although he is excellent defensively against the blinding pace of right-back Achraf Hakimi, they have pace at the back and will look to capitalize on left-back Nausair Majraoui’s immobility. The Dutch frustrated them with five men behind, choking the channels and disrupting their liquidity. Morocco’s defense is stop-gap with injuries to first-choice central pairing of Eze Abde and Nayef Aguirre.
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Almost all their build-ups are on the right side as well. Blocking Hakimi’s influence will be central to stopping them. Had Alphonso Davis been fit, it could have been a headline match-up. But the fictitious Ismail Kone out of the World Cup with a broken leg could give Davies a possible start. For a more compact midfield, Marsh could employ Mathieu Choinier to break up Morocco’s midfield.
But Morocco, most of them bred in strong European football academies, are not only an incredibly technical side but also a fiercely physical side. Marsh’s men have to match them physically. A fleeting consolation is that Morocco’s finish has been goalless apart from four goals against Haiti. In all other games, they scored just one goal, which was enough for a win or a draw. As Haiti showed, a two-goal defense isn’t completely foolproof.
Morocco manager Mohamed Ohbi himself is not in a buoyant mood. “If we do something wrong, we will go home,” he warned.
Among the bookies, Morocco are odds-on favorites to win the game and Canada could be the first co-hosts to exit the tournament. But this World Cup has a growing nervousness, and Canada can add spice. It may be a nightmare, as Marsh commented, but they need to live through it to advance the Canadian dream.