Thanks to Soccer that brings joy to Iraq at Asian Cup 2007

Iraq doesn’t have much to rejoice these days.  However their national soccer team is trying hard to change all that. They beat Vietnam 2-0 in first knockout round of the Asian Cup to advance to the semi-finals for the first time since 1976.    They moved on to shock the favoured South Korea 4-3 in a penalty shootout after it was scoreless at full-time and  extra time on Wednesday to put them on the brink of their greatest soccer achievement.

They had only made it as far as the semi-finals in 1976 and lost in their last three consecutive quarter-finals at the Asian Cup.  They will now travel to Jakarta for an all-Arab final with Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

An emotional Iraq’s Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira, who was appointed 2 months ago remarked “My boys have worked very hard.  Everyone is happy and we have every reason to be happy because this victory brings us to the finals, and we deserved that,” 

Thousands of Iraqis wearing team jerseys and waving national flags poured on to the streets of Baghdad cheering and firing assault rifles wildly into the air after the match to celebrate a rare moment of shared joy.

But the jubilation didn’t last long. Two massive car bombs were detonated in the Iraqi capital by insurgents, killing at least 50 people and wounding 90.

Goalkeeper Nour Sabri was Iraq’s hero, making a crucial save in the penalty shootout to steer his side into the final, and he dedicated his team’s fighting spirit to his beleaguered compatriots in his war-ravaged homeland.