In the final round of group matches in Group F of the World Cup, Morocco beat Canada by a narrow margin of 2-1, topping the group with two wins and a draw and advancing successfully. Coach Geraghty, who has only been in the job for three months, has led Morocco to its best group stage result since it took part in the World Cup, and the 47-year-old coach deserves a lot of credit for that. After the game, the Moroccan players excitedly threw him up high to celebrate the miracle he led the team to create.
Coach Geraghi took over two months ago, and one of his key decisions was to convince Xueyeji to return to the team, a central player who had a strained relationship with former national team manager Charly Hershey. Xueyeji, who played on the wing, opened the scoring for Morocco in the match and was a key contributor to the team's progress to the Round of 16. Coach Gracchi, who was Morocco's assistant coach from 2012 to 2013, has returned to the national team this year with a strong record and a solid defense.
This World Cup is Morocco's 6th appearance and second time advancing to the round of 16. Morocco's performance in this year's group stage surpassed that of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where they drew 0-0 with last year's runners-up Croatia, also beat last year's third-place finishers Belgium, and beat Canada again in this match to top the group with seven points. The last time Morocco reached the knockout stages was 36 years ago, when they drew with England and Poland and beat Portugal in the group stage to reach the last 16 with four points, but stopped short against West Germany.
