Morocco Carry a Continent's Hopes Into Round-of-16 Clash With Canada
Of all the African teams still alive at the 2026 World Cup, none carries a heavier weight of expectation than Morocco. The Atlas Lions, semi-finalists on their last great run, arrive at the round of 16 unbeaten and looking every bit the side capable of going deep again.
Morocco topped nobody but took points off everybody in Group C, drawing with Brazil and beating Scotland and Haiti to finish as runners-up without losing a match. That resilience — a stubborn defence married to quick, incisive attacking — is the blueprint that carried them further than any African team in history two tournaments ago.
Next comes co-hosts Canada, scheduled for July 4 at NRG Stadium in Houston. Home advantage and a raucous, partisan crowd will test Morocco's composure, but the Atlas Lions have made a habit of silencing hostile arenas. Their supporters, among the loudest and most numerous of any nation at the finals, will do their part to turn the stands.
A win would send Morocco into the quarter-finals and keep alive the possibility of an even greater achievement than their last-four finish. For a squad that has become the standard-bearer for African ambition on the world stage, anything less than a serious challenge for the latter rounds would feel like a chance missed.
Canada, energised by playing on home soil, will not surrender the tie cheaply. But if Morocco produce the discipline and menace that defined their group campaign, the Atlas Lions have every reason to believe the road ahead runs through them.
