By Sameer Ibrahim
On the occasion of the current World Cup, Sameer Ibrahim, an Iraqi member of the editorial staff of tünews INTERNATIONAL, recalls the Iraqi national team’s greatest success to date.
Football is very popular in Iraqi society. All Iraqis are united in football. The national team consists of members of many ethnic and religious groups. It is thus a microcosm of Iraqi society, which consists of 40 million people.
The Asian Cup, which is held every four years, was held in July 2007 for the first time in the tournament’s history in four countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. It was not easy for the Iraqi national team to win a championship against strong teams like Australia, South Korea and Japan. However, the Iraqi team surprised everyone by qualifying for the final. And the Iraqi team also won the final by beating Saudi Arabia 1-0. The decisive goal was scored by Younis Mahmoud, who was also voted the best player of the tournament. Iraq thus qualified as Asian champions for the Confederations Cup, in which the champions of all continents participate.
So Iraq got to represent the four billion people of Asia at the Confederations Cup. It is very amazing that this was achieved at a time when Iraq suffered from a bloody war and fierce conflicts and experienced terrorist events on a daily basis for many years.
This success also had a great impact on the psyche and consciousness of the Iraqi people, as I myself experienced during those happy football days in the capital Baghdad in a turbulent and miserable situation. At that time, the Iraqi civil war between the extremist Sunni and Shiite Islamic militias was at its peak. Statistics say that tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed at that time. While the Iraqi national team scored goals on the pitch, the dead filled the streets of Baghdad. For example, 50 people died from a bomb attack during a victory celebration alone. Although the everyday situation of the people was a nightmare, Iraqis found room for joy and breathed the scent of hope when they saw the Iraqi national team’s performance on the pitch.
More on the 2007 Asian Cup: Fußball-Asienmeisterschaft 2007 – Wikipedia
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Fußballtor. Foto: tünews INTERNATIONAL / Martin Klaus.
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