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As Azzedine Ounahi put Morocco ahead early in the second half, his coach Mohamed Ouahbi wagged a delighted finger. There was, perhaps, relief there too. In February he replaced the most successful coach in Morocco’s history, Walid Regragui, who may not have been popular by the end, but the idea that his successor might surpass his achievements seemed almost impossible. That may still be a way off but, five months on, Morocco have become the first African side to reach the World Cup quarter-finals twice – and there’s not much doubt that they’re playing better.

Criticism of Regragui at the 2025 Cup of Nations, which Morocco hosted and may have won on appeal – although we’ll have to wait for the court of arbitration for sport ruling to be sure – seemed harsh to outsiders. He had taken Morocco to a World Cup semi-final and had lost only four of his 49 games in charge – among them that semi-final against France in Qatar and the third-place playoff against Croatia. Was he really overly defensive, or was that just the way Morocco had to play?

More complicated was the sense that Regragui, through no real fault of his own, had become the face of the Moroccan establishment. At the last-16 game against Tanzania in Rabat, there was booing when his face appeared on the big screen, which took some unpicking. But even among fans there was disquiet about how much money had been spent on football-related infrastructure, in part with a view to hosting the World Cup in 2030, rather than health, education or, pertinently given December’s flooding in Safi that led to 37 deaths, basic infrastructure. If money had to be diverted into football, the logic seemed to run, let it at least not be cautious, controlling football.

Regragui left the job after the controversial final against Senegal to be replaced by Ouahbi, the former Anderlecht assistant who led Morocco to Under-20 World Cup success last year. He has implemented a far more progressive, offensive style and, with better finishing, Morocco would not only not have needed penalties against the Netherlands in the last 32 but would also have beaten Brazil in the group stage.

But this wasn’t really about the new style. This was a very old-fashioned Morocco performance, dogged and dour, admirably competitive, and with the undoubted ability of the more creative players seen almost entirely in counterattacks. Whether their cagey start was by design or because they were forced into it by Canada’s ferocity, though, was unclear.

But Ouahbi’s Morocco are just as capable as Regragui’s of resisting; this was a classic smash and grab from a team that recognised its limitations and played intelligently within them. They took the pace out of the game, reset and, even with the loss of Ismael Saibari to injury just before the first hydration break, managed to stem the Canadian tide. Without Saibari, who has been one of the players of the tournament so far, Morocco looked extremely blunt, managing just one touch in the Canadian box before the break.

As it turned out, they didn’t need a second, taking the lead six minutes into the second half as Achraf Hakimi pulled a free-kick back for Ounahi to sweep in from just outside the area. He was perhaps slightly fortunate still to be on the field. Booked in the first half, Ounahi had tugged at Ali Ahmed a couple of minutes earlier which, even though an advantage was played, might easily have led to a second yellow. Certainly, Canada’s Stephen Eustáquio seemed to be suggesting that to the referee Michael Oliver.

Morocco, though, had done what they needed to do. Canada, it became apparent, had gambled everything on that energetic opening. Once their momentum was stopped, Yassine Bounou making one fine save with his feet from Tani Oluwaseyi, once Morocco made the game a scrap, once the initial adrenal surge was over, there wasn’t much left. Ounahi added his second of the game after a break led by Chemsdine Talbi and Brahim Díaz before Soufiane Rahimi, having gone close with a header that struck the bar, made it three in injury time from another Díaz-led transition.

The pattern is becoming a familiar one in football: a revolution is at its most potent in its earliest form when vestiges of a nation’s identity remain. It was true of Liverpool in their first season under Arne Slot, as he dressed the foundational stones left by Jürgen Klopp in new guise. It was true of Stefan Kovacs at Ajax as he built on the work of Rinus Michels. And it was true of Claudio Ranieri at Leicester as he took on Nigel Pearson’s team and made them Premier League champions.

The danger may come later, as Germany are perhaps finding: the reboot may have won them the World Cup but sweeping away the culture of Führungspieler [leaders] who used to drive them through tournaments has left them vulnerable to the sort of underperformance they are now experiencing. But that’s a worry for the future. Right now, Morocco have Ouahbi’s stylings but in moments of crisis they can still rely on the Regragui base.