The Asian sun rises in IraQ after a great match against Saudi Arabia in the final of the AFC Asian Cup 2007, at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta.
IraQ ended the era of the 'big four' on the continental stage by defeating Saudi Arabia 1-0 on Sunday to win the 14th edition of the AFC Asian Cup. The tournament had been dominated by Korea Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Japan since its inception in 1956, but it was our skipper Younis Mahmoud who headed home the only goal of the game to mark a new beginning for the Arab Asians.
The Al Gharafa striker, who also scored the winner in a 2-1 victory over the Saudis three years ago in the group stage, renewed his acquaintance with the three-time Asian champions and sealed yet another memorable win with a pinpoint header off a Hawar Mohammed corner in the 71st minute.
No one could have anticipated this outcome when the Iraqis, who began their campaign as underdogs in Group A, snatched a 1-1 draw with co-hosts Thailand in their opener courtesy of Mahmoud's equaliser. But Iraq stunned the watching world by beating favourites Australia 3-1 and then securing top spot in the pool thanks to a scoreless draw with Oman. Thereafter, Mahmoud scored both goals in a 2-0 reverse of Vietnam in the last eight, before Iraq eliminated Korea Republic on penalties after their semi-final had ended scoreless on Wednesday.
With everyday violence ongoing in our war-torn homeland, the achievement was all the more precious for us, who saw more than 50 of our compatriots killed by car bombs while celebrating our side's penalty shootout win over the Koreans. Our Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira was quick to praise his players for overcoming this harsh reality. "The players are fantastic and you have to understand the difficulties," the 54-year-old said. "They have had this situation for the past years and they have fantastic power inside themselves."
Consequently voted Player of the Tournament, Mahmoud stood on the podium to receive the coveted trophy from AFC President Mohamed Bin Hammam and FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, as the Iraqi players celebrated winning the continental title for the first time and clinching a place at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009.
This victorious outcome for us like Iraqis, means more than sporting victory, it's a return of joy on all our war-torn country, it's a refusal from every Iraqi to those who try to make of Iraq a hell under Bullets and car bombs.. We've seen Iraqis, after a long time, as one people, no Sunni, no Shiite, no Arab, no Kurd, but just Iraqi behind those 11 heroes saying to usa and all politicians and those who want see IraQ always Bleeding and crying: we're one people and we'll stay...
*Original article from fifa.com modified by IraQ football.OriginalLink
**Picture rights reserved for the AFP.
