Archives » Sunday, July 29, 2007
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Joe Cochrane
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Jul 29, 2007 11:44 AM
For one day at least, soccer took priority over faith in Iraq. Despite
an order from one of the country’s most revered Islamic clerics against
firing weapons in the air, bullets rained down on Baghdad and elsewhere
after the Cinderella Iraqi national soccer team won the Asia Cup on
Sunday.
Iraq beat neighbor and bitter rival Saudi Arabia 1-0
to cap one of the most improbable runs in Asian soccer history. Gunfire
could be heard across the capital despite a security curfew aimed at
preventing a repeat of the deadly bombings that occurred last Wednesday
after the team, dubbed the “Lions of the Two Rivers,” beat South Korea
to reach the final in Jakarta. Today, with the entire nation, U.S.
military forces, foreign journalists and contractors cheering in front
of television sets and radios, the Iraqi team put on a dazzling display
of skill and sheer guts to lift one of the world’s most prestigious
soccer trophies without losing a single match.
The story
seems pure Hollywood: An underdog team from a divided, war-torn country
creates the first real good news here in months. A Muslim country, no
less, which eclipsed traditional soccer giants such as Japan, South
Korea, and Australia. Team captain Younis Mahmoud,
a Sunni on a team dominated by Shiites, once again scores the winning
goal. Post-Saddam Iraq, the setting of a proxy war among Iran, Syria
and Saudi Arabia, teaches its neighbors a thing or two about unity and
passion. To steal a phrase uttered about the U.S. hockey team at the
1980s Olympics: “Do you believe in miracles?”
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