"We Are Much More Than a Team"

January 6, 2022 6:54 AM

An Afghan girls soccer team rebelled to play the game they love. Now they're refugees [NPR]
posted by chavenet (3 comments total)

I have a huge range of feelings about this story. I am glad they got out (and I had not realized how welcoming Portugal is to asylum-seekers), but what they went through (and are still going through). I hope they get to play together as a team, soon.
posted by GenjiandProust at 9:45 AM on January 6, 2022 [4 favorites]

I heard this yesterday and I second GenjiandProust's emotions.
posted by y2karl at 11:40 AM on January 6, 2022 [2 favorites]

I just finished the audiobook of William Dalrymple’s Return of a King, about the First Anglo-Afghan War, around 1840, and all the way through the book it was clear that no one outside of the country had learned anything in the past 180 years. At least these girls learned to play football, even at a high cost.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:55 AM on January 6, 2022 [3 favorites]