A women's soccer team's wins transcend the pitch

Like all the best sports stories, this one is about much more than sports.

It takes place in Perth, Australia — the latest chapter in the tale, that is. The women's soccer team from Morocco is huddled on the pitch after defeating Colombia, 1-0, in the women's World Cup. The women are listening to a cellphone bringing news of Germany's contemporaneous game with South Korea. Germany had routed lowly Morocco in each team's opener, 6-0, but after two unexpected Moroccan victories, only a win by the powerful Germans would stop Morocco from moving into the knockout round and the game with South Korea was knotted at 1-1.

Then came word that the contest was over, the score still a tie.

Players screamed, collapsed to the grass, jumped for joy, and prayed. The women players and their male coaches hugged and wept, sought new pairings, and hugged and wept again.

It looked like catharsis. It looked like deliverance.

I hope we never become so jaded that we cannot be moved by moments like this.

The scene was euphoric, but context enriches.

In terms of sport, one notes that Morocco, ranked 72nd in the world, was the first Arab nation to reach the women's World Cup. The team was not well known even in its own home when it qualified last summer.

Its members have back stories. Like goalie Khadija Rmichi, whose attempts as a young girl to play soccer in the streets with the boys was considered shameful, so her older brother would drag her home only to have her return time and again. Defender Nouhaila Benzina became the first player to wear a hijab while competing in a senior-level global tournament — nine years after soccer's governing body's ban on playing in religious head coverings was overturned.

There is a larger context, too. Morocco's World Cup run comes as women in Iran push back against the theocracy's mandate that they wear hijabs as they agitate for women's rights. And as the Taliban tightens its constraints on women in Afghanistan. And as India grapples with a scourge of sexual violence against women.

It comes as 178 countries still have legal barriers that stop women from full economic participation, and as 95 countries do not guarantee equal pay for equal work, according to the World Bank.

Next up in this unlikely run is France, Morocco's colonizer and a nation that has struggled for years with its treatment of Muslims.

Most likely, none of that was overtly on the minds of Morocco's players as they wrote their improbable story. But they surely knew as they played that women's soccer has long been an afterthought in their nation, as in so many others. And that their nation, like so many others, has long held conservative views about women participating in sport and even about women wearing shorts. And that their success is bringing change — witness the willingness of Morocco's soccer federation to increase its financial and structural support of the team.

And they surely know by now that growing numbers of people have been watching and listening to their World Cup games in the cafes of many Moroccan cities.

That's how you make progress, bit by bit. And the journey never ends. In some corners of the globe, women's soccer still receives little coverage or attention — sports as a metaphor for the world writ large. The United States women's team has done a lot of heavy lifting by pushing for equal pay and treatment, growing the fan base, and drawing record TV viewership.

Now the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco are doing their part. Look again at their faces on the pitch in Perth, and you also see what it looks like when you know you're breaking through limits that have lasted centuries. They're winning soccer games, yes, but they're also winning hearts and minds.

Columnist Michael Dobie's opinions are his own.

By Michael Dobie

michael.dobie1@newsday.commwdobie

Michael Dobie is a retired member of the Newsday editorial board.