Jesse Marsch spoke of his pride in his Canada side after their last-16 exit to Morocco, claiming they were the better team and challenging his players to keep producing the levels they have reached in this tournament.
- Morocco beat Canada 3-0; Azzedine Ounahi's early second-half strike set the match in motion.
- Alphonso Davies missed the game with hamstring concerns, having logged only 16 tournament minutes earlier.
- Jesse Marsch was frustrated by a free-kick and bad giveaway but said the players "couldn't have done more" and made the country proud.
“We totally controlled the match,” he said. “We were the ones more likely to win the game, but goals change games so they could sit back. But overall in the match we were better than them. Before we came here if you’d said we’d be last 16 we’d have been satisfied. And if you’d said we were going to play like that … you’d think we were going to win the match.”
It’s fair to say Morocco’s head coach, Mohamed Ouahbi, did not agree with Marsch’s assessment. “It takes some nerve to say that when you lose 3-0,” he said, although Ouahbi did praise the “intensity” of the Canada side, explaining how he changed approach to evade their press by trying to play balls in behind the defensive line.
Canada dominated the first half to the extent that Morocco managed just one touch in their box, but Azzedine Ounahi’s strike five minutes into the second half set them on their way to a 3-0 win. “I challenged the players to understand that we can play like this all the time,” Marsch said. “Against the best teams in the world we can be better on the day. Can we hold that standard? Can we build that into the youth? Can we build a real Canadian DNA?”
They were hindered by the hamstring injury that kept out Bayern’s Alphonso Davies, whose only involvement in the tournament was 16 minutes against South Africa in the last 32. Davies felt discomfort in training on Friday and, although a scan showed no injury, it was decided not to risk him. The 25-year-old was so keen to play that he tested it again at half-time, but it was decided it was too much of a risk.
Marsch was frustrated with the first two goals conceded. “I don’t think the foul was necessary,” he said, speaking of the free-kick that led to the Morocco opener, while the second came from “a bad giveaway”. But he mentioned them as explanations for the defeat despite playing so well. “In terms of making the country proud the players couldn’t have done more,” he said.
