As Morocco faces France in the World Cup semifinal on Wednesday, many players and fans of both diverse teams grapple with family tales of colonial history, challenges of immigration, questions of national loyalty.
“Cultural changes and changes in life on the ground do have an effect and the team represents that,” said Laurent Dubois, a professor at University of Virginia in Charlottesville who has authored two books on French and international soccer.
In Morocco, people have embraced the team's foreign-born players as their native sons. They welcome the experience and professionalism they bring from Europe's top clubs and are proud they chose Morocco as their national team when they could have played for the countries of their births, from Spain to Canada to Belgium and beyond.
Like Morocco’s supporters at home and an estimated 5 million scattered around Europe and beyond, many players grapple with family tales of colonial history, the challenges of immigration and questions of national loyalty. They want desperately to detach from the burdens of the past and win a place in the World Cup final — whether home for them is in France or Morocco, or Belgium, Canada, Tunisia, Algeria or elsewhere.
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