Picture : Mohamed Ouahbi became the second African coach to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, following Walid Regragui who did it with Morocco in 2022.
World Cup 2026 Statistics – Day 24 (July 4) – Round of 16
Canada vs Morocco 0-3
*Morocco became the first nation outside UEFA and CONMEBOL to qualify for the quarter-finals in two consecutive World Cup editions, and the first African to reach two quarter-finals overall (three African nations did it once: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, Ghana in 2010.
*Morocco have won four World Cup knockout stage matches since 2022, tying the combined total of all other African nations in the competition’s history (Cameroon 1, Senegal 1, Ghana 1, Egypt 1).
*Morocco remains the only African nation able to get a victory in regulation time during World Cup knockout stages.
They did it for the 2nd time, after the 1-0 win over Portugal on 10 December 2022.
*Morocco became the first African nation in history to score three goals in a World Cup knockout match.
*Morocco achieved the largest victory by a team from outside Europe and South America in a knockout stage match in the history of the World Cup.
*Mohamed Ouahbi became the second African coach to reach the World Cup quarter-finals, following Walid Regragui who did it with Morocco in 2022.
*Azzedine Ounahi is the first player in XXI century and third in history to score a brace for Morocco at the World Cup, following:
Abderrazak Khairi against Portugal on 11 June 1986,
Salaheddine Bassir against Scotland on 23 June 1998.
*Ounahi became the fourth African player to score a brace in the World Cup knockout stage, following:
Abdelrahman Fawzi (Egypt, vs Hungary, 1934),
Roger Milla (Cameroon, vs Colombia, 1990),
Henri Camara (Senegal, vs Sweden, 2002).
*Brahim Diaz is the first African player to provide four assists in a single World Cup edition (including two vs Canada).
*With four assists, Brahim Diaz becomes Morocco’s all-time leading assist provider at the World Cup, surpassing Tahar El Khalej and Achraf Hakimi (three each).
*Morocco’s Ayyoub Bouaddi became the first African player in World Cup history to make 4 starts before the age of 19.
*Achraf Hakimi became the first ever African player to reach 15 appearances in World Cup history.
The second after him is his team-mate Ounahi (12).
Among players who did not play for teams from the Americas or Europe, only Hong Myung-bo with South Korea had more World Cup appearances (16) than Hakimi with Morocco.
*Achraf Hakimi provided an assist against Canada for the second consecutive World Cup.
He is the first African player who has registered an assist against the same opponent in back-to-back World Cup editions (2022, 2026), and the 7th such player in the competition’s history overall, after:
Baltazar (Brazil), vs Mexico (1950 and 1954)
Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (Germany), vs England (1966 and 1970)
Grzegorz Lato (Poland), vs Peru (1978 and 1982)
Gerd Müller (Germany), vs Ghana (2010 and 2014)
Keisuke Honda (Japan), vs Colombia (2014 and 2018)
Dušan Tadić (Serbia), vs Switzerland (2018 and 2022)
Raphaël Guerreiro (Portugal), vs Uruguay (2018 and 2022)
*Morocco’s Yassine Bounou, born in Canada, is the first goalkeeper who has faced his country of birth in two different World Cups (2022, 2026).
Six his colleagues faced their country of birth once.
*Six yellow cards in the first half in this game equal the record for bookings before halftime in a World Cup knockout-stage game.
The only previous instance: Brazil vs Ghana in the 2006 Round of 16 (also six cards).