Round of 16 – Results
•Morocco 3-0 Canada
•Paraguay 0-1 France
Round of 16 – Fixture
•Brazil Vs Norway – 11pm
•Mexico Vs England – 3am
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Morocco reached the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals for the second successive tournament after beating co-hosts Canada 3-0 in Houston on Saturday.
Azzedine Ounahi scored twice in the second half before Soufiane Rahimi added a stoppage-time goal as the Atlas Lions became the first African nation to reach the World Cup quarter-finals back to back.
After a difficult first half, Morocco took control after the break. Ounahi opened the scoring in the 50th minute with a first-time strike from the edge of the box following a clever set-piece routine involving Achraf Hakimi.
Canada had started brightly and came close through Tani Oluwaseyi, but Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou produced an important save to keep the scores level.
Morocco also suffered an early setback when leading scorer Ismael Saibari was forced off injured in the 22nd minute.
Morocco doubled their lead in the 82nd minute when Brahim Diaz set up Ounahi, who fired into the roof of the net for his second goal of the match.
Rahimi completed the victory deep into stoppage time after finishing a through ball from Diaz.
The win extends Morocco’s impressive World Cup run after becoming Africa’s first semi-finalists at the 2022 tournament.
Morocco who eliminated Netherlands at the Round of 32, will face two-time winners France in the quarter-finals in Boston on 9 July.
France needed Kylian Mbappe’s penalty to overcome a resilient Paraguay side that earlier shocked Germany.
This, is a repeat of 2022 World Cup semifinals that saw France beat Morocco 2-0, with Theo Hernandez and Rando Kolo Muani scoring a goal each.
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