Joudy Batawi felt a bit guilty cheering for her favourite team
Emotions were high heading into the July 4 World Cup soccer match between Canada and Morocco.
And I was torn.
Who would I cheer for?
I’ve spent most of my life in Canada, but my heritage is North African and Morocco has always been my team.
My assignment was to go to a watch party on the U of R campus, talk to fans and cover the game. How would that go? Would I have to choose between cheering for Canada or Morocco? Could I cheer for both? Would I get booed?
You had to admire Canada. They made it to the final 16 for the first time.
I was shocked by their 6–0 win against Qatar (followed by their 1–0 triumph over the South African squad). I was happy to see Canada in the spotlight.
But I felt it was more important to be cheering for Morocco in moments like these. It’s part of my identity.
I knew the match would be an emotional experience. In North Africa, soccer is deeper than a sport. It carries a lot of history and politics. It represents resilience and independence.
Seeing Morocco play in front of the world makes me proud. They get the opportunity to represent North Africa on their own instead of others defining North Africans with their narratives.
Nevertheless, I was feeling some awkwardness in the hours before the game.
As it turned out, I couldn’t find a campus watch party. That’s probably for the best. I watched the game alone, free to cheer Morocco on without feeling people looking at me. As the game wore on, I found myself admiring the Moroccan team’s skill.
They had a lot of confidence, which made the match look easy, especially during the second half. I mean, Yassine Bounou (my favourite player) looked like he was doing back flips while stopping Canada from scoring.
As Morocco started to score goals, it was obvious (to me anyway) they were going to win.
And they did. Final score was Morocco 3, Canada 0.
I don’t mean to take away from Canada’s skills. They showed they have potential for a future higher ranking in the FIFA World Cup.
Condolences Canada. Perhaps we’ll meet again.
Postscript
Alas, my beloved Morocco went down to defeat in the next round. France beat them 2–0. I saw this coming, knowing France had Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, who are high-ranking players. France went on to be defeated by Spain, which defeated Argentina 1–0 to win the World Cup.
Finally, Saskatchewan fans who were crushed by Canada’s loss might have felt a little better after the Roughriders-Ticats game on the 12th. The Riders won 38-7!
