Tribal Football

World Cup highlights: Morocco clinical while France narrowly bypass Paraguay

Morocco salute their fans after beating Canada to advance to the World Cup quarter-finals
Morocco salute their fans after beating Canada to advance to the World Cup quarter-finalsREUTERS / Hannah Mckay

The first day of the World Cup round of 16 occurred on Saturday, with Morocco and France setting up a fascinating quarter-final clash by getting past Canada and Paraguay, respectively.

Flashscore brings you all the best moments from the tournament in our daily World Cup highlights feature. Here's what happened on day 24!

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The headlines

It was the first day of the last 16, with Morocco kicking things off with a 3-0 win over Canada in Houston. Although the Atlas Lions did not look like their best selves in the opening half, Azzedine Ounahi scored the first of his two goals shortly after the restart from a free-kick routine.

Soufiane Rahimi, who came on for Ismael Saibari early on, added a third in stoppage time to send Morocco to their second straight World Cup quarter-final. Canada's third appearance at the finals ends, becoming the first of the co-hosts to be knocked out.

The other game saw France defeat Paraguay 1-0 in Philadelphia thanks to a Kylian Mbappe penalty. It was far from vintage for Les Bleus, who had 76 per cent of the possession. 

Match Stats: Paraguay v France
Match Stats: Paraguay v FranceOpta by Stats Perform

Yet, it took a spot kick from their captain 20 minutes from time to finally get past a stubborn Paraguay side, who saw their journey come to an end.

It means that France and Morocco will face off in the first quarter-final on Thursday in what should be a blockbuster clash.

Player of the day

Having to step up their game in the second half, Morocco will be happy to have found their way past Canada. The player who proved the most pivotal to that win was Ounahi, who earned an 8.7 Flashscore

The Girona man was the one to convert a strategic free-kick routine to get his side off the mark. Then, he was in the right place to finish off Brahim Diaz's cutback to net the insurance goal.

Azzedine Ounahi Player Stats
Azzedine Ounahi Player StatsIMAGN IMAGES via Reuters/Maria Lysaker / Opta by Stats Perform

Goal of the day

There were only four goals on Saturday, but the best of the bunch has to be Ounahi's opener.

Having not played well in the opening 45, Morocco needed to step things up. And that they did, as just a few minutes after the break, Achraf Hakimi picked out Ounahi on a free-kick, allowing the Girona man to shoot a low first-time shot past Maxime Crepeau and into the net.

Ounahi First Goal Sequence
Ounahi First Goal SequenceREUTERS/Hannah Mckay / Opta by Stats Perform

It was a smart goal from the Atlas Lions, who made the most of the fact that no Canadian player was marking Ounahi at the top of the box.

Best from social media

There was not too much in terms of social media hype that took place on day 24, but CAF's X page took a moment to show several of the congratulations messages Morocco received after their win.

Just as they did in 2022, the Atlas Lions are uniting a continent, and the support they are receiving from many were on display in the post.

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