Football Fables

In early 2007, I happened to find myself in Oman during the Gulf Cup of Nations—a soccer tournament properly called Khaleeji 18. Khaleeji pits genuinely awful teams, like Bahrain or Kuwait, against the somewhat less wretched, such as repeat World Cup finalists Saudi Arabia. Crappy football notwithstanding, there was something transformative going on in Oman—a small Middle Eastern country only 20 years removed from being the most benighted in the world. As its national team rocketed toward a berth in the final, the wins brought a sense of confidence and a blush of what locals described as western-style modernity. Front page news: pictures of women cheering in the stands in nearby Abu Dhabi, veiled in the Omani flag. On the jammed streets following the Omani semifinal triumph, I watched tribes unite. Eleven men and a soccer ball had managed what six centuries of colonialism and 40 years of independence could not. This moment would forever be woven into the sense of Omani...