International Media Praise Morocco’s Historic Women’s World Cup Achievement

Rabat – Morocco’s qualification for the Women’s World Cup round of 16 has made the rounds in international media outlets such as The New York Times and Reuters, who have been impressed by the Atlas Lionesses’ miraculous achievement.

The players’ belief in their capacities after a rough start to the competition stunned international media, as history repeated itself with the women’s squad as it did with the men’s during last year’s world cup in Qatar.

“Morocco had already won, of course. The first North African team to qualify for the Women’s World Cup… its mere presence in the tournament had been an achievement, and an inspiration,” stated The New York Times.

For Moroccan women’s football, this participation is the first of its kind. No one would have imagined that the team qualifies for the knockout stage, as they fell in a challenging group alongside teams that were tipped as superior to them, Reuters reported.

“Morocco were expected to make an early Women’s World Cup exit and be content making up the numbers,” said the news agency.

However, “the 72nd-ranked team went from a 6-0 thrashing by Germany to taking the former champions’ expected spot in the round of 16,” they added.

Germany had clinched the world cup title twice, which made them strong favorites to win the group against Colombia, South Korea, and Morocco who had reached their respective continental cups’ knockout rounds.

After a heavy defeat in their first group stage match against Germany which ended 6-0, the Moroccan squad quickly bounced back to clinch two victories in a row against South Korea and Colombia with a 1-0 score for both.

Even then, no qualification was guaranteed as the initial 6-0 defeat tipped the goal difference against Morocco.

To qualify, the Lionesses had to hope for Germany to lose or tie against South Korea, which is what ended up taking place.

Upon qualification,the agency reported on the head coach’s emotions saying that “Pedros didn’t seem to know what to do. He burst into tears on the field as his team and his staff celebrated their achievement.”

Describing how the players reacted to their achievement, they went on to say that the “players dropped to their knees in thanks. Others embraced.”

On the other hand, Sports Brief highlighted some similarities between the world cup tournaments of this year and of 2022.

Shedding light on the fact that the men’s squad were the first Arab and African team to reach the semi-finals during the Qatar world cup event last year, the outlet also highlighted how the women’s squad have become the first Arab and North African team to advance to the knockout stage in their tournament.

“Morocco and the FIFA World Cup are a match made in heaven,” they added.