‘Don’t Want To Stop’: How Morocco Became Africa’s Genuine World Cup Contender

Morocco have emerged as the continent’s best bet at the 2026 World Cup, but face a daunting quarter-final against a rampant France next on Thursday.


The North African side reached the semi-finals in 2022, the furthest a team from the continent has progressed, but need an upset result to match that feat.

It would be a surprise, but not a real shock for a Morocco team that is now ranked number six in the world, and their evolution into a top football nation was no better exemplified than their comprehensive 3-0 win over Canada in the last 16 as they absorbed pressure before inflicting three hammer blows on their opponents.

Morocco took 50 minutes to break the deadlock as Azzedine Ounahi scored twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a late third, but never looked flustered nor deviated from their plans.

Canada were on top in a frenzied opening and created several chances to score, but were wasteful and made to pay.

By contrast, Morocco had four shots on target in the 90 minutes and netted from three of them, economical in their chance creation but clinical with their finishing.

“The first half was very intense, there were a few adjustments to be made at halftime,” Morocco coach Ouahbi said. “We showed some video at the break and after that we were a lot more in control.

“I won’t go into detail of what we said, because we have some more games to play. We did not change our identity or game philosophy, but we had to use our midfield and (goalkeeper Yassine) Bounou to stop them pressing.

“We knew there were spaces behind (the defence) that we could exploit.”

It is a hallmark of a top team that Morocco are able to soak up the pressure placed on them, not panic and trust that chances will come their way.

More than that, they believe they will have the quality in attack to take those opportunities when they come along.

It is the kind of “big team energy” that sets the top teams apart and Morocco have discovered it.

“We tried to make our players understand this is the World Cup, which means there will be difficult moments. What matters is that when we are not at our best, we need to be resilient,” Ouahbi said.

“When people talk about Morocco, they are talking about a real contender and a major footballing nation. That is a great source of pride.

“We want to keep going, we don’t want to stop. We will keep the same ambition and same goal (to win the World Cup).”

This Morocco side is arguably more balanced and has greater attacking threats than the one that made it to the semi-finals four years ago. 

They are a team brimming with talent that has worked out the street smarts needed to go deep into major tournaments, even if their biggest test awaits in France.

Should they clear that hurdle they can claim to truly be among the world’s best teams.