Imagine what might happen if the Atlas Lions were actually to win the cup. How many young French or Spanish people of Moroccan origin, second or third generation, would rediscover that their true sense of belonging lies elsewhere?

My niece played me a song by The Cure; in return, just for fun, I read her a short story of mine – I’d only just written it. It’s very short, a bit like "The Old Man and the Sea", but with an even older protagonist, and even shorter