Canada – Morocco

In the match between the national teams of Canada and Morocco, it is extremely hard to determine the favorite.

If the first group-stage match of the FIFA World Cup involved Mexico, the second consecutive round of the knockout stage is opened by the other hosts of the tournament—the Canadians. It should be noted that Jesse Marsh's players, among the three World Cup hosts, have so far looked the least capable of contending for the later knockout rounds. Moreover, this thesis arises not from any single game, but when considering the Canadians' entire tournament path. In the first round of the group stage, Marsh's charges failed to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina, but corrected this lapse in the second round with a 6-0 drubbing of Qatar. Serious problems for the hosts began in the third round of the group stage, in which they were rightfully beaten by Switzerland. The first stage of the knockout was supposed to feature Canada's meeting with Africa's surprise Group A qualifier—South Africa. When the match seemed headed for extra time, the Canadians converted a not particularly strong advantage and scored the only goal of the game. It can be concluded that the only somewhat serious opponent of the hosts in the first four matches inflicted a defeat on them. The Morocco national team, unlike the upcoming opponent, has already undergone baptism by two world top teams: Brazil and the Netherlands. Moreover, they did so with dignity, solving along the way the difficult tasks of containing opponents, opening up their defense when necessary, and coming back. It can be concluded that Morocco's level is consistently on par with the aforementioned teams; Moroccans are among the contenders for the world football crown. Their advancement to the semi-finals, as at the World Cup in Qatar, would not be a sensational or even surprising event. Against Brazil, Achraf Hakimi and his teammates played to a 1-1 draw in a fairly even match. After hard-fought wins over Scotland and Haiti, the Moroccans were not considered favorites for the Round of 16 clash with the Netherlands, but they did not play worse against them either. If it were not for the heroic saves by the Netherlands' goalkeeper, one could confidently say that the outcome of the match would not have required a penalty shootout. Morocco is significantly stronger than the upcoming opponent; fans will not save the hosts from defeat.