Morocco Are Doing It Again: Unbeaten, Ruthless, and Into a 2022 Rematch With France

Update (July 10): the rematch went France's way — France won the quarter-final 2–0 and ended Morocco's unbeaten run. The preview below was published on July 6, before kickoff, and is preserved as written.

In 2022, Morocco became the first African side ever to reach a World Cup semi-final, and the temptation afterward was to file it as a beautiful one-off. Four years later they are unbeaten through five matches, they have just produced the most complete knockout performance of the round of 16, and on Thursday they play France — a rematch of that 2022 semi-final — for a place in the last four. This is not a one-off. This is a program.

The run so far

From our results database, Morocco's five matches:

• 1–1 vs Brazil — held the five-time champions in the opener;
• 1–0 vs Scotland — the professional win;
• 4–2 vs Haiti — the goals flowed;
• 1–1 vs Netherlands, 3–2 on penalties— eliminated one of the tournament's form teams from twelve yards;
• 3–0 vs Canada— a road win over a host nation in a knockout round, and it wasn't that close.

Against Canada in Houston, Azzedine Ounahi — the midfielder who announced himself to the world in Qatar — delivered the individual display of the round: two goals (50', 82') and a match rating of 9.23, the highest we have logged in any knockout tie so far. Soufiane Rahimi added a third at the death. A Canadian side roared on by a home crowd, and one that had conceded sparingly all tournament, shipped three in forty minutes and never truly threatened at the other end.

What makes this Morocco different from 2022

The 2022 run was built on the tournament's best defensive block and penalty heroics. The 2026 version keeps the nerve — ask the Netherlands — but adds goals: ten scored across five matches, with the attacking depth to win a match 4–2 and the control to win one 3–0. Ismael Saibari's three goals and Ounahi's knockout double speak to scoring spread across the squad rather than one talisman carrying it, while Achraf Hakimi's marauding from full-back gives the side a goal-and-assist threat few opponents can track.

And where 2022's bracket gave Morocco successive giants, 2026's gave them a different test: being the favorite. Against Scotland, Haiti and Canada, Morocco were the side expected to win — the hardest psychological gear for a rising football nation — and they won all three by a combined 8–2. Handling expectation is a different skill from riding an underdog wave, and this Morocco has shown it can do both.

None of it works without the spine that made 2022 famous. Morocco have conceded only four goals in five matches, kept two clean sheets in the knockouts, and in Yassine Bounou still have a goalkeeper who turns tight ties into penalty shootouts they expect to win. Add Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui overlapping from both full-back positions and you have a team that defends as a unit of eleven and attacks with numbers — the profile of a side built to win one-off matches, which is exactly what a World Cup knockout round is.

France, again

The quarter-final against France (July 9) is as loaded as a fixture gets: a rematch of the 2022 semi-final France won 2–0, a colonial-history subtext that makes it one of world football's most charged matchups, and Kylian Mbappé — joint-top of the Golden Boot raceon seven — on the other side. France have won all five of their matches; Morocco haven't lost in five. Something gives on Thursday.

Our AI will publish its full prediction — win probabilities, key players, predicted scoreline — on the match prediction page before kickoff. Its 2022 counterpart would have told you France were clear favorites; its 2026 numbers may be less sure.

Results and match events from goals2026.org's match database, correct as of July 6, 2026.