Morocco progressed into the World Cup quarter-finals for a second straight edition after Azzedine Ounahi's second-half double helped them to a 3-0 win over co-hosts Canada.

Having reached the semi-finals four years ago in Qatar, Mohamed Ouahbi's side – who added a late third through Soufiane Rahimi – will hope to replicate that feat when they meet either France or Paraguay.

Yassine Bounou had to be alert early on in Houston, first denying Jonathan David before making another smart stop with his feet from Tani Oluwaseyi as Canada made a bright start.

Morocco's task was made harder when leading scorer Ismael Saibari limped off injured in the 22nd minute, though his replacement Rahimi soon tested Maxime Crepeau with a speculative long-range effort.

A brief confrontation between Richie Laryea and Achraf Hakimi, the latter shoving the Canadian full-back off the ball, characterised an ill-tempered first half that lacked discipline and attacking quality.

But Morocco found their stride after the interval when Hakimi used a wide free-kick to disguise a pass towards Ounahi, who curled into the bottom-right corner from the edge of Canada's area in the 50th minute.

Jesse Marsch responded by bringing off Oluwaseyi for Cyle Larin, who almost pounced on a loose ball inside the Morocco box, only to see yellow for his lunge on Bounou.

David clipped over a free-kick before Bounou pushed away Tajon Buchanan's bouncing drive, only for Morocco to kill the contest eight minutes from time when Brahim Diaz offloaded for Ounahi to blast into the top-right corner after a rapid breakaway.

Rahimi headed against the crossbar from Ounahi's right-sided cross soon after, but he would not be denied when steering past Crepeau from Diaz's selfless throughball in the eighth minute of stoppage time.

Knockout specialists Morocco ease past Canada

With the United States celebrating Independence Day, fireworks were expected from these two teams after their thrilling round-of-32 clashes, but attacking excitement was sorely missing in the opening 45 minutes.

There was still some spark, albeit for the wrong reasons, with this the first World Cup match on record since 1966 to see more yellow cards (six) than shots (five) at half-time.

This clash was also only the second knockout match at the finals to see six first-half yellow cards, with Brazil's 3-0 win over Ghana in 2006 the other instance (also six). The eight cautions by full-time were the most in any match at this year's tournament.

Canada may have felt Ounahi's opener was harsh, given he escaped a second booking minutes earlier for a pull on Ali Ahmed, but Hakimi's involvement should not surprise anyone.

A smart offload secured Hakimi's third World Cup assist. The only defenders with more since 1966 are Daley Blind, Denzel Dumfries and Cafu (all four), while Diaz has the most of any African player (four) after setting up two here.

And further punishment followed from Ounahi, who is the first Morocco player to score twice in a World Cup match since Salaheddine Bassir in 1998 against Scotland.

Canada supporters may have felt this result was always coming. They are now without a win in five meetings with Morocco across all competitions (D1 L4), only facing Scotland (six) more without ever winning.

Ouahbi will know tougher tests may follow, but Morocco have progressed from seven of their last nine knockout matches at major tournaments (World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations), excluding finals and play-off matches for third place.