Houston, July 5 (IANS) Canada’s World Cup journey ended in a 3-0 loss to Morocco, but the team made history for their country as co-hosts. Canada picked up their first-ever point in the FIFA World Cup and won their first knockout match against South Africa to reach the Round of 16.

Canada defender Alistair Johnston said they are quite proud of their achievements.

“I just want to be able to look myself in the mirror after this World Cup and say that I left it all out there,” Johnston said. “I do think that we’ve done that. Even though we’re down in Houston, we know what kind of cultural impact we’re having back home, and that resonates with us.”

Coach Jesse Marsch said losing was hard because his team played so well, reports Xinhua.

“It’s always hard in these moments,” Marsch said. “Especially when you play really well, it’s really tough to swallow. However, I told the players that I was proud of them. We can play like this all the time. Against the best teams in the world, we can be better on the day.”

Marsch wants this success to change Canadian soccer. “The challenge now is, can we hold that standard for 90 minutes? Can we make sure that we continue to build the depth of what we’re doing with the team?” He said.

“Can we build that into our youth national teams? Can we build a real Canadian DNA into the football we want to play, our infrastructure, and the way we teach the game in our academies?” added the coach.

Despite the exit from the tournament, Marsch had nothing but praise for his squad’s spirit. “In terms of the commitment of the group and making the country proud, they couldn’t have done more,” he said.

While Marsch’s side displayed a dominant first-half performance, the Atlas Lions showed their class in the second half, with Azzedine Ounahi scoring twice before Soufiane Rahimi added a late third to seal the win. Morocco became the first team at the World Cup to progress to the quarterfinals.

“I think we did an amazing tournament. Until half-time of this game, we were outstanding. Everybody back home should be very proud. We felt we could have won this game, especially in the first half. We were on top of them, we were fighting, we were creating chances, our set pieces were on point,” Canada midfielder Stephen Eustaquio said. “But from a set piece, we let that slip, and then obviously we want to go after it, and we got hurt on transitions.”

Following the match, the team posted an emotional message on social media, saying, “Right now, the hurt is real. We came here believing we could keep writing history, and when you believe that deeply, the final whistle is not easy to accept.”

“Over the last few weeks, we watched an entire country fall in love with this team. Streets are filled with red. Living rooms became supporters’ sections. Kids who once dreamed about wearing the crest of their ancestral homes discovered a new dream. We’ve always believed this was a football country. Now, we know it is.”

–IANS

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