Why Morocco are World Cup contenders?

Morocco are on another fairytale World Cup run - even if their latest win over Canada was less beauty and more beast.

The north African side were not pretty in beating the 2026 co-hosts 3-0 in their round of 16 meeting in Houston.

Morocco won despite having just five efforts on goal – the fewest by a team who won a World Cup knockout match on record – and the first half was the first in World Cup history with more yellow cards than shots.

But Morocco came through, and as the cliché goes, the mark of a great team is that they know how to win ugly.

And now we must regard Morocco as a great team, and a real contender to win this World Cup.

They are not only unbeaten in this World Cup, but in their last 34 matches across all competitions.

While that record does carry an asterisk as it includes the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal – a win rewarded retroactively to Morocco and being challenged in court – it is impressive nevertheless.

Not since a 1-0 loss to Kenya in August 2025 in the African Nations Championship – a tournament solely for players in Africa's domestic leagues – have the Moroccan national team lost a match.

And after the first 15 minutes in Texas, they never looked like losing this game.

Canada had two early chances, with Moroccan keeper Bono saving from Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi, while the Atlas Lions did not have a touch in the opposition box for the first quarter of an hour for the second successive fixture.

But once Morocco settled, they firmly took control of the game. As Canada manager Jesse Marsch said afterwards: "They were bending a little bit but they didn't break."

-BBC