Imagine being the solitary spectator in a stadium not knowing that your nation had triumphed in the most important match in its history. Imagine that you were also the one who scored the game-winning goal.
Rosella Ayane is not required to. She calmly turned around after scoring in Morocco’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) semifinal penalty shootout victory over Nigeria last year. Then, she started stumbling back to the halfway point to meet up with her teammates.
She didn’t realize what she had done until those comrades surrounded her, at which point her uncertainty gave way to happiness.
“It was a bit of a blur, to be honest,” she said after the match. “I didn’t even know it was the winning penalty. I had no idea!”
The Atlas Lionesses’ spectacular climb that saw them go from the periphery of African football to qualified for their first World Cup in a matter of years culminated with that semifinal victory.
The Prince Moulay Abdallah Stadium in Rabat was packed with more than 50,000 spectators just a few days after that victory over Nigeria, and thousands more camped outside to try to watch the country’s first participation at a continental final since the men’s team reached the AFCON final 18 years earlier.
