A difficult debut for the Lionesses, yet Moroccans are still hopeful

The Atlas Lionesses were hoping to pull off a shock result against Germany in their World Cup debut on Monday, though their hopes were dashed facing a 6-0 loss against the second-ranked team worldwide.

Despite the final score, Moroccans still hope for a Qatar similar to a fairytale where the underdogs flip the table, encouraged by the fans' sheers and the power of dreaming.

"In Qatar World Cup, we learned to dream, and we will not stop dreaming now," Abdellah, a Moroccan 55-year-old man, told The New Arab after the end of the match.

At a popular café in Rabat, Hassan watched the match with his friends, five retired men who kill time talking politics and analysing football. 

Unlike Qatar's crowded World Cup cafés, only a few people were watching the game. Though, time might be to blame for the empty cafés. The match started at 9:30 (GMT+1) on a Monday morning.

Disappointed scuffs and sexist curses were raised along Germany's relentless goals against the Moroccans, with many turning to read the newspapers, hoping to find better news than the tragic match on TV.

On paper, Morocco's women's football team qualification for the tournament was already a surprise. 

Ranked 72 worldwide, the Lionesses made their African debut last year in the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semi-finale fighting their way to the final against South Africa. 

Their outstanding performance in AFCON was behind their qualification to Australia's World Cup.

Though primarily trained in local modest-funded clubs with little to no international experience, their debut against the second-ranked team in the World was a suicide mission.

"We cannot compare the women's and men's teams. They walked different paths. And just their qualification to the Cup is a victory for Moroccan women's sports," Hassan, a Moroccan doctor and football enthusiast, told the TNA.

Lionesses' journey, slow but inspiring

Twenty-six years ago, Morocco took its first steps in women's football. Nearly two decades later, women's football in Morocco has made little progress, as the focus continues to be mainly on the men's side.

While a league system had been established, there was no single national division and club football was dominated by AS FAR Rabat, the only men's club that invested meaningfully in a women's club.

In 2019, the federation launched an entirely professional national football league and regional second tier for women's football.

With little experience and crooked funding, the Lionesses have already made an example for young Moroccan football aspirers to follow their dreams and for Moroccan conservative families to believe that football can also be a career for women.

"I watched last year their AFCON final in Rabat with my daughter. They were not playing; they were fighting. They made us proud," Saieed, a Moroccan teacher, told the TNA.

"That experience made me finally accept letting my daughter train for football. I wanted my daughter to be like Ghizlane Chebbak. I would be so proud of her," he added.

Morocco must now regroup and focus on Sunday's crucial encounter with South Korea in Adelaide.

But they will need to work on defending, particularly regarding crosses into the box, which caused them problems all evening in Melbourne.