David Edgar
Former Canada defender on BBC Radio 5 Live

Jesse Marsch signed a new four-year deal leading up to the World Cup and we have gone on to have this successful campaign.

Hopefully this can be the stepping stone for Canadian football to move on to bigger and better things.

It has been quite doom and gloom for pretty long so to have us come out of this with the world's respect in football, I think has been a massive achievement for Canada and for Jesse Marsch and the team.

The fans in the game travelled down to Houston and paid their hard-earned money to go to Los Angeles last week as well.

You've galvanised a young generation who have the Stephen Eustaquio moment from last week to go and do it in the park themselves like we did as kids. Now they have someone to look up to.

Hopefully we will see it in not in the next five or six months but in the years and years to come.

For the second time, Canada were in the strange situation of playing on foreign soil in a home World Cup - and their supporters were outnumbered by Morocco fans in Texas.

Yet they stepped up to the challenge with high tempo and pressing, leaving Morocco looking stunned at times in the first half.

But Canada, for all their effort, lacked the quality to break down the solid Moroccan defence as Juventus striker David ended his below-par tournament on another quiet note.

Another member of what has been dubbed Canada's golden generation did not even get off the bench. Their captain and talisman, Bayern Munich winger Alphonso Davies, was an unused sub.

Davies has struggled with a hamstring injury and while he came on in the last 32 against South Africa, he was not fit enough to make an impact here.

Marsch said Davies had an MRI scan - which came back clear - after training on Friday.

"The good news was there was no injury," he added. "But his hamstring didn't feel right. We wanted to be cautious and make sure we weren't risking anything."

Image source, Getty Images

"Morocco were just not at their very best, and there are tougher tests to come," said BBC 5 Live pundit Chris Sutton.

"They surprised me with their lethargy at the start. I don't know whether there was a bit of arrogance in dismissing the Canada team. Something was amiss with their performance.

"Morocco were never going to perform as badly in the second half. The longer the game went on, the stronger they became.

"They are devastating on the counterattack. But if France get through and Morocco perform like they did in the first half against a team like France, they will be crushed."

Yet there is no question that this Moroccan side have a better chance to become Africa's first ever world champions than any other side in history.

Morocco's success is not overnight. The one thing underpinning the North Africans' success has been long-term investment backed by the country's King Mohammed VI.

An academy and $65m (£48.7m) training complex, both bearing his name, opened in 2009 and 2019 respectively and have helped the Atlas Lions establish themselves as Africa's top-ranked side.

"Everything that is happening right now in Moroccan football is thanks to Mohammed VI," Ouahbi said. "He has invested a lot in the last few years, especially this academy."

After reaching three out of four World Cups between 1986 and 1998, Morocco went 20 years without qualifying. This investment turned around their fortunes and allowed them to recruit players from the diaspora abroad – like Hakimi and Diaz, both born in Spain.

It has given Morocco a competitiveness and belief which has become the blueprint for other African and Arabic nations, and it gives them a different aura to four years ago.

"It's not a surprise, we are no longer a surprise as of today," Ouahbi said. "When people talk about Morocco they talk about a real contender, a major footballing nation and it's a great source of pride.

"It's only the beginning and I hope we can continue to have similar World Cup runs for many years. We want to keep going, we don't want to stop."

While the run in Qatar was twinged with disbelief, their journey in North America has been infused with purpose.

A football fairytale, this is not.

Image source, Getty Images

Chris Sutton
Former England forward on BBC Radio 5 Live

Morocco took off in Houston in the second half. They picked their moments.

Azzedine Ounahi with a couple of brilliant finishes.

Tougher tests to come for Morocco but it is job done and they are the first team into the quarter-finals.

With the United States celebrating Independence Day, fireworks were expected from these two teams after their thrilling round-of-32 clashes, but attacking excitement was sorely missing in the opening 45 minutes.

There was still some spark, albeit for the wrong reasons, with this the first World Cup match on record (since 1966) to see more yellow cards (6) than shots (5) at half-time.

This clash was also only the second knockout match at the finals to see six first-half yellow cards, with Brazil’s 3-0 win over Ghana in 2006 the other instance (also six).

The eight cautions by full-time was the most in any match at this year’s tournament.

Image source, Getty Images

Morocco have become the first African nation ever to reach the quarter-finals of two World Cup tournaments (2022 and 2026).

Hassan Kachloul
Former Morocco international speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live

The first half was very disappointing, they looked tired from the the 120 minutes they had to play previously against the Netherlands.

The speech from the manager at half-time must have turned things around.

We scored goals when we needed to so that's what is positive now.

Ounahi became the first Morocco player to score twice in a World Cup match since Salaheddine Bassir in 1998 against Scotland.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Emma Smith
BBC Sport

Canada became the first co-host to exit the 2026 World Cup as they were well beaten by Morocco in Houston.

The Moroccans, having failed to impress in a bad-tempered first half, took the lead five minutes after the interval through Azzedine Ounahi.

Ounahi swept home Achraf Hakimi's cut-back free-kick from inside the D as the Canadian defence failed to close him down.

The Girona midfielder scored his second by converting a breakaway with eight minutes remaining to seal victory.

And an ultimately comfortable win was topped off in stoppage time as Soufiane Rahimi slid his shot under keeper Maxime Crepeau.

It was tough on Canada, who had started by far the stronger team in Texas and should have led early on.

"There was one team on the pitch," Canada boss Jesse Marsch said of his side's start to the game.

"We were better than the number seven team in the world today."

But Morocco progress, as they move one win away from equalling their historic run to the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup.

Canada pressed the Moroccans relentlessly from the start, and both Jonathan David and Tani Oluwaseyi were denied one on one by Morocco keeper Bono inside the opening 11 minutes.

The African side were below par and clearly frustrated for long periods as eight yellow cards were shown by English referee Michael Oliver.

But Morocco ultimately came through and were close to a third when Rahimi looped a header off the crossbar - before the striker finally got his goal with the last touch of the match.

It means Canada's most successful men's World Cup campaign comes to an end - a tournament in which they earned their first point, win, group-stage progression and knockout victory.

"We want to thank you for making us dream," one Canadian journalist said to Marsch in the post-match news conference.

"Before, we never believed we'd ever make it this far. So we just want to say thank you."

Another country who enjoy getting to the quarter-finals are Morocco.

They have reached the quarter-finals in the last two World Cups and secured their spot after beating Canada.

Canada became the first host nation to drop out of this World Cup, with Morocco finishing the job in style.

France are through to their ninth World Cup quarter-final, only Brazil (15), Germany (14) and England (10) have reached this round more often.

Image source, Getty Images

Emlyn Begley
BBC Sport

Michael Olise is not your typical footballer.

Born and raised in England, he is setting this World Cup alight with France.

The Bayern Munich forward, via Reading and Crystal Palace, usually shuns the spotlight, loves chess, barely celebrates goals and avoids interviews - and does not have a deal with any sportswear or boot companies.

After a season with 25 goals and 28 assists for the Bundesliga champions, the 24-year-old is now seen as one of the world's best players.

Olise has become the first player to assist five goals at one World Cup since Germany's Thomas Hassler in 1994.

Those who have known him since childhood say his reserved nature should not be seen as arrogance - it's just "Michael being Michael".

It is what he has always done.

Image source, Getty Images

France's Manchester City forward Rayan Cherki said that the Paraguay game showed the team can overcome provocation to win games.

"We knew it was going to be a fiercely contested match," he added.

"But it was important to us to play a game like this during the World Cup - to remind everyone that the French team can play beautiful football, but can also go to war."

William Saliba said Les Bleus were ready for Paraguay after studying videos of their previous games.

"They were going to come at us hard, commit fouls, and try to provoke us," added the defender, a Premier League winner with Arsenal.

"We had to stay in the game, because if we started wasting energy, getting into arguments, and losing our focus, things wouldn't go well.

"So, we stayed focused. It's not easy, but sometimes it feels good to win a tough match like this, because since the start of the tournament, we've been used to scoring three goals.

"Today, it was a 1-0 win, but it's just as valuable."

Image source, Getty Images

France boss Didier Deschamps has become the first manager to win 10 World Cup knockout ties.

Image source, Getty Images

France boss Didier Deschamps after his side beat Paraguay: "I've seen a lot of things. I do not want to criticize Paraguay. Each team plays the way they want. But there were some insults from the other bench which I could have done without.

"The most important is by the end of the game that there were no disagreements and that we (did not) get another card. We got three yellow cards with a lot of fouls.

"I'm not saying that we did not make any fouls, but there were a lot from both teams."

Paraguay completed just 54% of their passes (99/183), the lowest passing accuracy in a World Cup knockout match on record (since 1966).