Canada became the first of the three host nations to be knocked out of the round of 16 as they were defeated 3-0 by Morocco at the Houston stadium.  The Atlas Lions are the first team to confirm their place in the quarter-finals.

The first-half was almost a tactical masterclass by Jesse Marsch to completely nullify the potent Moroccan attack, as well as dictate the tempo of the game.

Inside 11 minutes, the Canadians were almost rewarded for the intense pressure they placed on the AFCON champions. A goal-kick by Yassine Bounou went as far as Canada's Ali Ahmed, who slipped through Tani Oluwaseyi. He turned past Redouane Halhal, but he was denied by Bounou.

Morocco was unable to reply as any attack was sniffed out by an intense press from Canada. Things went from bad to worse for the Atlas Lions when star player Ismael Saibari was substituted in the 22nd minute with a suspected hamstring injury. 

Morocco did not register their first shot until the 29th minute when substitute Soufiane Rahimi tried an audacious range-from effort which did not trouble Maxime Crépeau.

Canada began the second half with the same intensity, but slowly they began to tire. However, their momentum was halted in the 50th minute. Achraf Hakimi had a free-kick just to the right of the ball, and he played across to Azzedine Ounahi to drive past Crépeau into the bottom right corner.

The Atlas Lions managed to slow down the game and slowly dictate the tempo to suit them which killed the previous momentum the Canadians had. 

In the 82nd minute, Chemsdine Talbi led a lightening-quick Moroccon counter attack and he played it wide to Brahim Diaz, who teed the ball up for Ounahi running late into the box, and he smashed it into the top right corner to double Morocco's and his tally.

In the dying embers of the game, Diaz threaded the ball through to Rahimi who placed the ball past the goalkeeper with ease to make it 3-0.

With this win, Morocco will play the winner of France vs Paraguay. 

After the poor first half, it looked like they lacked the creativity and the tempo to keep up with the wave upon wave of Canadian attacks. Without Saibari, too, it looked difficult to see where the cutting-edge threat would come from. 

However, Morocco showed a much different side of their play. During the group stage and against the Netherlands, they were a box-office high-pressing team that choked teams. 

In this match, they were able to soak up pressure much better in the second half and limit Canada to half chances or audacious long-range efforts. The substitutes changed the game for the Moroccans as they added a lot of pace and directness to punish Canada.

They were ruthless and professional, which makes them a much more dangerous outfit, as they still won comfortably in the end despite a poor start. Rahimi offered a different dynamic to Saibari as he played more of a traditional striker and played well.

Despite being a host nation, no one could have truly predicted that Canada would be able to reach the round of 16 for the first time in their history. Not only did they create history, but they also made it in style with an attractive style of play. 

On another day, they could have easily won this match had the shot from Oluwaseyi gone in. This was perhaps the story of their tournament, as apart from the game against Qatar, they could have scored more across the tournament. 

It's moments like this that could inspire a generation to take up football as a dream that they want to pursue.