Morocco are set to face World Cup co-hosts Canada on Saturday as both seek to progress into the Quarter-Finals in their knockout match at the Houston stadium in Houston, Texas.
Coming fourth in 2022's tournament in Qatar, the Atlas Lions are hoping to match their record run where they became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals.
Having won the Africa Cup of Nations earlier in the year, following a controversial final with Senegal, Morocco have met expectations, making a solid run.
Coach Mohamed Ouhabi praised the team's "technical quality" in comments made to reporters in Houston on Friday, though he warned that the match will still be a close call.
"I am a very honest person and I told the players it will be the most challenging game in the World Cup so far. I am rarely mistaken on this," he said.
Canada, a nation whose most popular sport is Ice Hockey, has broken its own records this World Cup, having only been in two previous tournaments.
This includes earning their first World Cup point and winning their first game.
Coach Jesse Marsch said on Thursday that "preparing for Morocco is like a gory, horrible nightmare."
"We want to be here and we expect to be here. So we know that everybody's going to write us off, and in that is an opportunity," he added. Face to Face Paired against each other, Canada may seem like it has performed fairly well compared to Morocco, having scored more goals, 9 to 7, though most of them come through a crushing 6-0 victory against Qatar during the group stage.
Canada have also conceded fewer goals, at 3 to Morocco's 4, completing more shots, 49 to 42, and had more shots on target, 28 to 21.
And yet, unlike Canada, Morocco is undefeated in the tournament so far, having fended off titans Brazil with a 1-1 draw in the group stages, as well as beating Haiti 4-2 and Scotland 1-0.
Morocco also secured victory against the Netherlands in the knockout round of 32, clawing back to draw 1-1 in the final minutes of the game, and winning 3-2 on penalties.
Canada, however, lost their final group stage match against Switzerland 2-1, which is itself in the last 16 following a 2-0 win over Algeria, their first in the knockout stage since 1938.
The match won't be the first time the two teams face each other. During friendlies in 2016, Morocco won 4-0 in a fairly lopsided game.
During the 2022 World Cup, Morocco faced tougher opponents, winning 2-1 against a Canada side that held greater possession and took more shots on goal.