Missouri build world of warships4/3/2024 ![]() Twenty-five years before the 2022 WAFCON final, the nation was taking its first steps in women’s football. ![]() Now, with the success of the men’s team at the World Cup in Qatar – where they became the first African and Arab nation to reach the semifinals – and the Atlas Lionesses being the first Arab nation to qualify for a Women’s World Cup, the excitement in Morocco is building. Just a few days after that win against Nigeria, more than 50,000 fans filled the Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat, and thousands more camped outside to try to watch the nation’s first appearance at a continental final since the men’s team reached the AFCON final 18 years previously.Īnd though the team fell short in a 2-1 loss to South Africa, it was a statement to the world that women’s football in Morocco was ready to rub shoulders with the best. That semifinal win was the culmination of the Atlas Lionesses’ meteoric rise that took them from the fringes of football in Africa to heading to their first World Cup in the space of a few years. ![]() “I didn’t even know it was the winning penalty. “It was a bit of a blur, to be honest,” she said after the match. It wasn’t until those teammates mobbed her that she realised what she had done, and her confusion turned to joy. When she scored in Morocco’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semifinal penalty shootout against Nigeria last year, she calmly turned around and began trudging back to the halfway line to rejoin her teammates. Now imagine also being the person who scored the goal to win that game. ![]() Imagine being the only person in a stadium unaware that your country just won the biggest game in its history. ![]()
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