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 on Sunday (as per BST).
Morocco is the first African team to reach back-to-back FIFA World Cup quarter-finals. The Atlas Lions achieved this historic milestone by advancing to the last eight in the 2026 tournament, following their groundbreaking quarter-final and semi-final run in the 2022 edition in Qatar, report agencies.
The previous best performances by African nations were single quarter-final appearances by Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002), and Ghana (2010), making Morocco's consecutive advancements a significant leap forward for African football on the global stage.
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.
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.
Are Morocco serious World Cup contenders?
In a meeting of two sides currently blessed by golden generations of talent, it was the Moroccans who shone.
For Canada, injured Alphonso Davies was helpless on the bench as Morocco neutralised Stephen Eustaquio's dangerous passing and squeezed star striker Jonathan David out of the game.
Meanwhile, Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi, arguably the world's best right back, was a constant menace both on the ball and in the Canadian players' faces, while creative fulcrum Brahim Diaz claimed two assists. He now has four in World Cups - the most of any African player.
"The first half was very intense," Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi told his post-match media conference.
"What matters is we didn't change our identity, we didn't change our game philosophy. There were lots of ideas being thrown around and we took the best one.
It was more than enough to take Morocco to a second successive men's World Cup quarter-final, progressing through five matches as they did in Qatar.
Morocco have now won four World Cup knockout matches - two in 2022, two in 2026 - which is as many as all other African nations combined. One more win, and they will have officially matched their showing at the 2022 World Cup, where they became the first African nation ever to reach the semi-finals.
So Morocco are contenders, although there remains a feeling they have not been tested to their full capabilities yet.
'There are tougher tests to come'
Morocco will play their 2026 quarter-final against France in Boston.
"Morocco were just not at their very best, and there are tougher tests to come," said BBC 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton. "They surprised me with their lethargy at the start. I don't know whether there was a bit of arrogance in dismissing the Canada team. Something was amiss with their performance.
"Morocco were never going to perform as badly in the second half. The longer the game went on, the stronger they became.
"They are devastating on the counterattack. But if France get through and Morocco perform like they did in the first half against a team like France, they will be crushed."
Yet there is no question that this Moroccan side have a better chance to become Africa's first ever world champions than any other side in history.