The African Union President Reveals Morocco as a First Country in Football: “I am so excited to win. I am so proud of Morocco”
In an Abidjan cafe where people were watching the game and drinking beer to celebrate the win, customer Jules Goule said Ivorians were proud of Morocco’s win. “Through Morocco Africa has just shown that it can compete with other continents in football,” he said.
African Union President Macky Sall wrote on Twitter, using capital letters to emphasise his excitement: “HISTORIC! AND FANTASTIC! The World Cup qualification of the ATLAS LIONS is confirmed. BRAVO MOROCCO.”
As the game wound on, Morocco fans screamed “Ole, ole, ole!” in unison, drowning out the handful of Portuguese fans and whistling whenever Portugal took possession of the ball.
One man wearing the red and green of Morocco’s national flag and its football kit raised his hands in supplication as the final minutes ticked away, shouting “O God, o God.”
As Moroccan player Jawad El Yamiq circled the pitch with a flag draped around his shoulders, one fan stood motionless, looking out over the pitch with his hands over his mouth as if unable to take in the scale of the win.
The crowd of fans was gathered at the cafe where they had watched the game to head downtown.
CNN spoke with ecstatic fans after Morocco beat Canada, Spain and Portugal. They hailed from six different countries, and often their ecstatic reaction to the result was a show of praise for the tournament hosts. One man said that he was in a dream, and was swept away by the crowd. Another supporter said he hoped that Morocco could make the Arab region proud, before adding, “I want to thank Qatar for this event, bringing all different nationalities together, making us feel the same, like brothers.”
I am the last one who would make a statement like that based on a sporting event. I was not interested in football when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. When the gym teams were selected, I was the one who was picked last. The closest I would come to the ball was when it hit me in the back of the head, as I tried to get to the ball. During World Cups, my friends would eagerly collect Panini Sticker Albums of the qualifying teams’ players (the international football equivalent of baseball cards); I preferred the ones about dinosaurs.
The Atlas Lions: A story of joy for football players, players, and the Palestinians in the Middle East. A joyous moment of unity for the Arab world
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The players’ families have been integral to the success of a team whose foreign-born players come from six different countries, North African football expert Maher Mezahi told CNN. They were told by their coach that the one thing they all had in common was their parents. And we won’t have any success if our parents aren’t happy,’” said Mezahi.
It’s a feel-good vibe which has spread far beyond the stadiums and streets of Qatar, and which is at odds with a more common narrative in an Arab world riddled with growing youth unemployment, ballooning inflation, rising poverty rates and political violence.
It’s “a source of joy for a region that’s been marred by violence and upheaval,” Samia Errazzouki, a PhD candidate in Northwest African history at UC Davis, told CNN. I think this is a great moment of joy for everyone.
According to Amro Ali, a Sociology professor at the University of Casablanca, it has been shown by supporters of the Palestinian cause that they can express their solidarity with Palestinians in occupied territories by using afiltered and unmediated space.
“We hope that Arab leaders will be capable of uniting this region in the same way that the Emir of Qatar was able to unite all Arabs in this country during the World Cup,” Ramadan said.
In 2020, Morocco was one of four Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel, departing from a long-time regional policy that conditioned normalization on ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, where Israel still maintains a blockade alongside Egypt. Sweeping displays of solidarity with Palestinians highlights the disconnect between those governments’ official positions and continued hostility towards Israel.
Sports journalists covering the games are trying to understand every detail of the events in order to reproduce them in 40 years.
By then, the story will be a fable. The players will have become almost mythical figures, and the supporting cast will be central to it. The mothers’ pride of The Atlas Lions will never be forgotten.