World Cup 2022: Why Morocco’s win over Spain means so much to me

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

Moroccan supporters flocked to Qatar looking for joy. They collectively needed something to feel happy about, removed

We’re used to losing. Morocco’s team is changing that, for the country and the Global South.

Aida Alami

Moroccan journalist

from the many anxieties of life — an exhausting pandemic, a drought that has plagued our country, inflation and economic hardships. It seemed clear that mostly, we were all looking for a purpose, even if we did not realise it.

During the first days of the World Cup, I was mostly uninterested. I did not travel to Qatar, though like many others who work on documenting human rights abuses, I had followed the debate around the questions raised about the event this year.

As someone who grew up in a country where people kick the ball in street alleys and family feuds are born from disagreement over teams, I was also engaging, in part, in an act of self-preservation. I had gotten my heart broken too many times seeing our national squad play well but still lose. I have learned to preserve my feelings to not feel the crushing disappointment that has marked so many games since I was a child. Somewhere I believed that we were always set to fail, and I was done exposing myself to heart-wrenching sorrow.

But then the TikToks started pouring into my phone. I do not use social media, except for Twitter, and as minimally as I can because of my work, but the videos were so viral that I too got to see them. Seeing enthusiastic Moroccans cracking jokes and imposing our dialect in that part of the world viscerally fed into my deep love for football and my unconditional support for our team. Seeing Achraf Hakimi’s mother, who looks like so many Moroccan mothers, embrace her son after each victory, made my heart warm.

It was clear that the team felt comfortable in Qatar. Moroccan families felt at home in a more conservative setting, in a country whose language they spoke. Traditionally, the World Cup has been an event where Westerners, with their passport privileges, get to attend in huge numbers, while we watch from home, often unable to get the visa to travel to the country hosting the tournament.

This time was different, and the Moroccans showed up in large numbers to encourage the bearers of their nation’s flag.

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[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

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