Match talking points will appear here before kick-off.

• 1
  Morocco's tournament ended in the quarterfinal, beaten 2-0 by France on July 9 — Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé did the damage. No shame in that scoreline: France went on to the final, and Morocco kept it level for the best part of an hour before the quality told.
• 2
  The high point was the round of 32 — Morocco beat the Netherlands, one of the tournament's form teams, on penalties (1-1 after extra time, 3-2 on spot kicks) on June 29. They followed it up by dismantling co-hosts Canada 3-0 in the round of 16, with Azzedine Ounahi scoring twice.
• 3
  That run means Morocco have now reached the quarterfinals or better in back-to-back World Cups — this one following their famous 2022 semifinal. No African nation has ever managed consecutive tournaments that deep. That's not a small thing to drop into conversation.
• 4
  Yassine Bounou, the veteran goalkeeper, was the wall behind all of it — his saves kept Canada's best players out in the round of 16. Brahim Diaz, playing further forward, quietly set an African record with his fourth assist of the tournament.
• 5
  Morocco co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, so there's not much time to sulk about this one. Next time round they might not even need to get on a plane.

• 1
  Canada's World Cup as co-hosts ended in the Round of 16, beaten 3-0 by Morocco on July 4. Azzedine Ounahi scored twice and Soufiane Rahimi added a third late on, and Canada became the first of the three co-host nations to be eliminated.
• 2
  The high point was history itself: a 1-0 win over South Africa in the Round of 32, Canada's first-ever win in a men's World Cup knockout match. Stephen Eustáquio scored the winner in stoppage time — the biggest goal in the country's World Cup history.
• 3
  Eustáquio's form throughout the tournament was remarkable for a player who isn't a household name outside Canada — he created five chances from set plays in that South Africa game alone, matching a record set in a 2006 World Cup semifinal.
• 4
  Stephen Eustáquio is the name worth knowing — a Portugal-born, LAFC-based midfielder who quietly ran Canada's midfield all tournament, then produced the goal of his life when it mattered most.
• 5
  Being the first co-host eliminated will sting given the occasion, but a first-ever knockout win, on home soil, is a genuine marker for Canadian football — not the end of the story, but proof the program is finally somewhere new.