{"id":115457,"date":"2026-07-03T22:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/115457\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T22:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T22:55:11","slug":"canada-to-leave-it-all-out-there-in-historic-world-cup-clash-vs-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/115457\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada to leave \u201cit all out there\u201d in historic World Cup clash vs. Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2014 Jesse Marsch and Alistair Johnston sit in reality.<\/p>\n

When Canada<\/a> face Morocco at Houston Stadium on Saturday in the country’s first men’s FIFA World Cup<\/a> Round of 16 match, they know it will take an out-of-this-world effort \u2013 in Space City \u2013 to keep their tournament dream alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorocco is a team that has literally zero weaknesses,\u201d Marsch told reporters on Friday, after he called watching their film a \u201cgory, horrible nightmare\u201d earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to try to be good at the things that we care about and that we are good at.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity<\/p>\n

As difficult as the clash will be, this summer has been about opportunity, and few moments in Canadian sports history can rival the chance to play a match of Saturday\u2019s magnitude.<\/p>\n

First, it was\u00a0earning a point<\/a>, then securing a win<\/a> and advancing<\/a> from the group for the first time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last week in Los Angeles, their 1-0 win<\/a> over South Africa became the most-watched non-final knockout game in the country\u2019s history, with 11.2 million people tuning in to at least part of the game, finally giving Canadian men\u2019s soccer its moment on the world stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as great as it was, they\u2019re hungry for more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be able to look at myself in the mirror after this World Cup and say that we left it all out there, and I do think that so far in this tournament we’ve done that,\u201d defender Alistair Johnston said Friday, as Canadians get set to tune in as the country basks in the post-Canada Day weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though we’re down in Houston, we know what kind of cultural impact this is having back home, and that’s something that resonates with us \u2014 we also know that the best way to continue to grow the game is to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Matching Morocco<\/p>\n

To have any chance, Canada will have to play their best game ever and maybe get some luck. Four years ago, in their final match at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Les Rouges got a stroke of luck when Morocco scored an own goal in a 2-1 loss to the Atlas Lions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since then, though, the programs have evolved, and while that experience is relevant, it\u2019s far from defining.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been trying to tell the guys to play the game, not the occasion,\u201d said Johnston, one of the seven current CanMNT players who faced Morocco in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s going to be loud, and there are going to be noises that you didn’t even know were possible to be made in a stadium, and it’s going to be unbelievably tough to focus. But we need to remember we’re all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Tough opposition<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one thing Canada can be certain of now, it\u2019s that they can compete \u2013 if not beat \u2013 anyone, unlike in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since Marsch took the reins in 2024, Canada have played to scoreless draws with some of the world’s top sides, including France, Colombia and the Ivory Coast, and lost two respectable 2\u20130 scorelines to reigning World Cup champions Argentina at the 2024 Copa Am\u00e9rica.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While that idea has been omnipresent, it came to the forefront in a November 2025 meeting in Fort Lauderdale ahead of a friendly against Venezuela. There, Marsch separated players into small groups, and each was asked to define how opponents should feel when playing against them.<\/p>\n

Every group came up with a similar answer. It should be unrelenting \u2014 and it should \u201cfeel like hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

That intensity will define Saturday. In Morocco\u2019s 120-minute and penalty-kick win over the Netherlands, it was their raison d\u2019\u00eatre.<\/p>\n

And Marsch\u2019s men, as good as they can be, have had few moments at that pace and emotion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what you learn from being in those moments is your ability to actually focus on the things that matter and what’s most important,\u201d Marsch said, adding that he moved the players\u2019 family and friends to a separate hotel in Houston to minimize distractions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to need to handle the difficulty of what Morocco is going to throw at us at every moment, and make sure that we are understanding exactly who we are, how we want to play, who we want to be, and that we execute that at the highest level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily for Canada, the backline has been the emotional barometer, led by Johnston and\u00a0Richie Laryea<\/a>\u2019s pressure-filled experience as fullbacks, and the composure of two 20-year-olds, Luc De Fougerolles and Mo\u00efse Bombito, alongside veteran Derek Cornelius in the heart of defense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is that we have a strong defensive team for the World Cup,\u201d Marsch said. \u201cThat is a really good statement on what’s been developed with this team and the quality of the defenders and players that we have.<\/p>\n

“So it will be important that we’re stable and organized, but incredibly aggressive to make sure we make it difficult for Morocco.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Real-life meaning<\/p>\n

While preparing to play with pressure and intensity takes focus, it\u2019s impossible not to embrace what a moment like Saturday can mean for the lives of every player and staff member.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marsch, who ditched his suit and tie for the Round of 16 in favor of a quarter-zip and jeans, said he\u2019ll be the one picking up the tab when the time comes for them to reflect on this journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [players] are so committed because they’re so strong with each other, because they never back down, and because they invest everything they have every day into trying to make sure that we can maximize our potential,” he said. “I’m going to be the one buying the beers, and I’m going to be the one thanking them for the experience and how rewarding it’s been.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it’s too early, because we still have so much that we want to and hope to achieve, and we’re laser-focused on doing everything to make sure that we capitalize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reality is what it is, and so too are the FIFA world rankings and history \u2013 but this World Cup has shown that anything is possible. Canada now hope it will be their turn at fantasy, with dreams of taking on France or Paraguay in the quarterfinals on July 9 at Boston Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2014 Jesse Marsch and Alistair Johnston sit in reality. When Canada face Morocco at Houston Stadium on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,39620,16177,1072,3543],"class_list":["post-115457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-canvsmar-07-04-2026","tag-match-previews","tag-sendtonews","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}