Canadian men's historic World Cup run ends, but achievements can't be overshadowed by loss to Morocco

end-to-end this domain transfuse, benches feature been decorated with banners bearing each country’s name and colours. They’ve traveled, like the teams, arriving just ahead of them. The same banner has been used for every game, like a battle flag. They are more than bunting. They have become talismans. 

On Saturday, Canada’s banner was there again, stretched across the Houston Stadium dugout beside fearsome Morocco’s deeper shade of red. Forty-eight banners had been made for this World Cup; by kickoff, only 16 still saw the light. Germany’s had been packed away. Croatia and Uruguay and the Netherlands no longer needed theirs, either.

Now, Canada’s, too, will be folded up one last time. A 3-0 loss ended our men’s use for it, along with their hopes of shipping it to Boston for the quarterfinals.

“We left it all out there,” Alistair Johnston said. “We played with that Canadian honesty and resilience that I think really resonates with the people back home… We know how important it is to play like that.”

From the beginning of this epic, sprawling tournament, the Round of 16 felt like this team’s high-water mark. It is very good, better than ever by a remarkable margin. Canada’s men were ranked 120th as recently as 2017. They were ranked 30th entering Saturday’s matchup, an incredible climb.

But the gap between them and Morocco, who slipped from sixth to seventh in FIFA’s rankings overnight, remains as undeniable as gravity. This team made history, and it was all the history it was likely in them to make.

Canada's World Cup run is already reshaping soccer at home

“The smallest details make a difference when you’re on top of the match,” head coach Jesse Marsch said, “and the ability to be the one that makes those plays and is on top of those details is the difference.”

Canada opened the game almost shockingly composed. For the entire tournament, Marsch has prescribed urgency, pace, haste. He wanted everything done in a hurry, refusing to give the opposition a chance to organize. Canada couldn’t compete with technique; its avenues in the games that mattered were athleticism and desire.

Canada eliminated from the World Cup after 3-0 loss to Morocco in Houston

Against Morocco, a new Canada began to emerge. Our men remained driven. They also looked patient and analytical.

They conceded possession, and the Moroccans were much more efficient in their movements on and off the ball. But the Canadians made the better early chances, including Tani Oluwaseyi’s golden first-half opportunity, saved by Montreal-born Yassine Bounou.

It was a little hard to imagine it, but Canada should have been in the lead at halftime.

“We have a very good chance in the first half,” Stephen Eustáquio said, “a very good chance. If we score that, we put the game on our terms, and we play the football that we want to play.” 

Instead, the game settled into a nervier rhythm of stifled attack and incomplete counterattack. The Premier League’s Michael Oliver officiated tightly, which kept the action stuttering. There were six yellow cards in the first half alone, four for the frustrated Moroccans. That the game was still scoreless at the break was perhaps victory enough.

The second half started less optimistically for the Canadians. It felt as though one mistake might settle things.

In the 50th minute, one mistake did.

Luc de Fougerolles made a hard, necessary tackle deep in Canadian territory, leading to a free kick not far from the corner flag. Most of the players crowded into the box, Canada’s men expecting a lash toward goal. Instead, a perfectly designed bit of deception came: a low, soft ball into the penalty arc.

Jonathan David, caught a little flat-footed, nearly intercepted it, but Azzedine Ounahi found it instead. He sent a terrific shot low and to the left of a diving Maxime Crépeau. He had no chance to make the save, and David was left with his hands on his head.

“It’s a frustrating one,” Johnston said. “It’s a simple, kind of cheap goal to give up.”

It proved the difference. Canada had to press for an equalizer, reverting to their baser, more frenzied selves, but Morocco, confident and experienced, wouldn’t allow it. The minutes ticked away, each one evaporating more quickly than the last.

Ounahi scored his second in the 82nd minute, and that was it. One more at the death didn’t much matter, except for the record books. Morocco’s men were already headed to Boston.

Canada’s men were going home.

In the weeks and months ahead, a collection of agonizing what ifs will hang in the air, where wishes used to be.

Alphonso Davies, Canada’s oft-injured captain, came on as a substitute in only one game and looked unsure of himself when he did. (He benched himself against Morocco. “In training, I felt a little bit something,” he said. “I wasn’t there yet.”)

David wasn’t as good as he needed to be. Ismaël Koné’s broken leg robbed him of his childhood dreams and Canada of its best creative threat. Marcelo Flores might have brought a similar quality had he not torn his ACL in his last club match before he reported for duty. Several other players — Eustáquio, Ali Ahmed, Alfie Jones — played hurt or couldn’t play at all.

But after the immediate sting has faded away, Canada’s performance against Morocco and across this tournament should be remembered with pride, not shame. It should be remembered with joy, not regret.

Canada’s banner was first bathed in sunshine more than three weeks ago in Toronto, where it sheltered our men in their blistering opener with Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was shipped to Vancouver for two more games, including Canada’s historic dismantling of Qatar. Los Angeles came next, where it was a silent witness to more firsts: Canada’s first knockout round game and win, over South Africa.

Our men outlasted exactly 32 other teams before running into a better one. That is a forever fact.

They also did this: They wrapped themselves in our flag everywhere they went, and in a World Cup for the ages, they proved that Canada’s shade of red belongs beside every other.

They have made that a forever fact, too.

Senior Contributor

Chris Jones is a journalist and screenwriter who began his career covering baseball and boxing for the National Post. He later joined Esquire magazine, where he won two National Magazine Awards for his feature writing. His memoir, Legs Hearts Minds: Loss and Its Remedies, will be published by Random House in June.

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