Posted on 07/29/2007 7:59:05 AM PDT by alligator
AKARTA (Reuters) - Iraq defied seemingly impossible odds to beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the Asian Cup final on Sunday, providing a fairytale ending to the tournament and a rare moment of celebration in their war-torn homeland.
Iraqi captain Younis Mahmoud scored the winner in the 71st minute when he climbed above the defence at the far post and headed a perfectly-weighted corner from Hawar Mulla Mohammed into the net.
Saudi Arabia had been bidding to become the first country to win the Asian Cup four times but were outplayed by an Iraqi team riding high on a wave of national support.
Iraq's unexpected victory not only captured the imagination of the sporting world but helped unify a country ravaged by war and ripped apart by sectarian violence.
(Excerpt) Read more at uk.reuters.com ...
Why are you blaming Freepers?
:-)
Woohoo!!!
Well, they attack innocent grocery shoppers every day!
http://www.ing-ap.com/~afchladmin/AFC/AFCHighlights/IRQvKOR300.wmv
Its not about what Iraqis think, its about big headlines in the US. Yes they would kill national heroes just to have Katie Al Couric talk about how the evil Chimpy caused this tragedy.
Never imagined that a guerrilla war would be successful by using the tactic killing their own civilians.
EXCELLENT analogy.
We finally ventured out for chow since it had calmed down. Every Iraqi we saw on the camp was grinning from ear to ear.
Every American was doing the same. We were congratulating them and there was lots of hugging going on. This is a very happy town right now. A happy nation. :-)
Very good to know. Thanks Allegra.
Now that was funny.
Congrats Iraq.
Thank you for that report! And congrats to our Iraqi football friends. Please extend our best and hearty congratulations.
Can you please do that for us? There are many of us here in the states that love the game and we want them to know how happy we are for them!!!
Sue, you absolutely get it. Love of the world’s beautiful game is one part, and national pride in this case, entirely another.
Iraq just scored on both.
If you have any doubt, ask any of us Italian supporters. :)
“I wonder if the terrorists will now target the members of the team.”
I wonder if Americans will become convinced that we need to target the terrrorists. I am sick and tired of half-hearted approaches towards defeating these people. The only way to make an impression on these fanatics is to crush them at every turn.
BTTT
Just think. Only six years ago, the Taliban was executing women in burquas in soccer stadiums. Thanks to the bumper sticker WOT, they now win championships, instead.
“You know, I bet Hollywood will make a movie about this touching story. //Sarcasm off.”
Starring George Clooney, with cameos by Robert Redford, Paul Newman, and Babs Streisand. About the time you see pigs flying by your window.
You beat me to it, few remember Uday’s torture of Iraqi soccer players after past World Cup or Asian Cup failures. I was just reviewing some of the news articles, his pastimes included urinating on them and whipping them, and then dunking them in raw sewage to insure their wounds would become infected.
Undoubtedly, they played much better without the stress of worrying what their fate would be if they lost.
Beautiful photo with the Cup. If it gets me choked up, I can’t imagine what it’s doing to the Iraqis.
God Blessed Iraq today. Beautiful day.
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