Published On 5/7/2026
At Houston Stadium, player Azzedine Ounahi was making history again. Two missile targets; The first was a creeping shot after a decisive pass from full-back Achraf Hakimi (50th minute), and the second was a shell that settled in the top corner after a perfect cross from player Ibrahim Diaz (82nd minute).
Onahi scored a double in Morocco’s impressive victory over Canada (3-0), securing the Atlas Lions a regular place in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2026.
Read also
list of 2 itemsend of list
Although the Lions did not impose absolute dominance over the course of the match, Onahi emerged as usual to draw the difference.
This player, with a slender build and graceful legs, has a body that is considered rare in the world of modern football, which is based on physical strength.
Is this transformation the secret behind his instability with clubs – as happened at Olympique Marseille, where his flashes were not enough to establish him as a key player, all the way to his experience with Girona, Spain – while he turns into a lethal weapon as soon as he wears the national team shirt?
Super transformation with black atlas
In a Moroccan shirt, Ounahi turns into another player: decisive, committed, and a true leader of the midfield. At the age of 26, he has 54 international matches to his credit, and has proven his ability to play consecutive matches at the highest level.
If the world was impressed by him in the Qatar World Cup in 2022 thanks to his smart movements, creativity, and exceptional ability to extract balls, in the World Cup in 2026 he adds to his genius with deadly offensive effectiveness.
Nasser Largeit: The secret is trust
Expert Nasser Largeit, former technical director of the Moroccan national teams and former director of the Marseille Academy, has known Ouanahi closely since he discovered him at the age of 10 in Casablanca and included him in the Mohammed VI Academy.
Larget explains this discrepancy by saying: “He is a wonderful young man and you cannot have any problems with him, but he is a unique case; his talent is shown much better with the national team than in the clubs today. I think the clubs are reluctant to give him full confidence.
At Olympique Marseille, there may have been noisy and crowded players in his position, so he did not find enough space. If he does not obtain absolute confidence – the one given to him by Walid Regragui in 2022, and renewed by the current coach Mohamed Wehbe – the matter will become difficult for him. In short: If you give Onahi confidence, he works miracles.”
Messages from the technical staff and change of style
This confidence was evident in the Canada match; Despite a complicated first half, the coach did not hesitate to include player Ayoub Bouadi alongside him instead of replacing him, which is a clear message of support for the midfield engineer.
Between the Qatar World Cup and the current edition in 2026, Onahi’s star continued to rise under the leadership of coach Mohamed Wehbe, who pushed him to a more advanced position on the field, and forced him to develop his style to be more effective in the final third, running and penetrating the penalty area repeatedly.
Coach Wehbe says, expressing his great admiration: “Ounahi is a pivotal player for us. He has an uncanny ability to break opponents’ pressure and extract the ball. He is one of the players who covers the most spaces. I told my family and friends that he is one of the players who most impressed me in my professional career.”
Praise from colleagues
This fascination is not limited to coaches, but extends to colleagues; The pivotal star, Soufiane Amrabat, commented after qualifying, saying: “I told my family and friends that Ounahi is one of the players who influenced me the most during my career. Great players always appear on the big dates.”
As for the groom of the evening, who was crowned the best player in the match, he seemed reserved and realistic as usual, saying: “The match against Canada was not easy at all. We suffered a lot in the first half, but things improved in the second half thanks to the coach’s substitutions, which made the difference. Social media was saying that Morocco would qualify easily, but we saw how Canada fought. The most important thing is that we went through the match calmly, and thank God for the qualification, which will help us develop further.”
