Canada, already eliminated from the tournament, suffered a third straight loss at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar on Thursday after losing 2-1 to Morocco.
Representatives of the Maple Leaf will therefore have to wait at least another four years before hoping to savor a first victory in this prestigious men’s soccer tournament. Canada completed the group stage in Group F with a 0-3 record, after suffering 1-0 losses to Belgium and 4-1 to Croatia.
The game got off to a bad start for Canada, after defender Steven Vitoria delivered a soft throw in the direction of his goalkeeper. Milan Borjan, then out far from his penalty area, accidentally put the ball directly at the feet of Moroccan Hakim Ziyech. The latter only had to lob it above his head to open the scoring, from the fourth minute of play.
It went from bad to worse for the representatives of the maple leaf, since Youssef El-Nesyri doubled the lead of the African team less than 20 minutes later. The Sevilla striker accepted Achraf Hakimi’s handover and weaved his way between the Canadian defenders, before unleashing an unstoppable shot with his right foot.
Moroccan Nasef Aguerd narrowed the gap well in spite of himself to 2-1 in the 40the minute by scoring against his side, following a throw-in to the center of Canadian defender Sam Adekugbe.
Atiba Hutchinson briefly believed to have leveled the mark towards 71e minute, but his header was called off by the referees. Morocco then secured victory.
Despite this disappointing result, all is not lost for Canada.
Alphonso Davies made history by scoring the country’s first World Cup goal in the second minute against Croatia.
In the other match playing simultaneously in Group F, Belgium drew 0-0 against Croatia.
The future of head coach John Herdman with the team seems rather mysterious, like that of players Alistair Johnston and Ismaël Koné, to name a few, with CF Montreal.
Koné and Samuel Piette were not part of the starting XI against Morocco. Piette therefore did not get playing time during this tournament in Qatar.