Breaking: Iraq Wins Asian Cup
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Younis Mahmoud’s second-half header clinched Iraq’s first Asian Cup title, giving the conflict-ravaged country a 1-0 win over three-time champion Saudi Arabia in Sunday’s final.
The Iraqi skipper met Hawar Mulla Mohammed’s corner kick at the far post and angled his header into the back right side of the net in the 72nd minute for his fourth goal of the tournament.
The Iraqis entered the Cup as an unlikely contender, but grew in confidence with a group stage win over pre-tournament favorite Australia and a semifinal shootout win over 2002 World Cup semifinalist South Korea.
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Remember how it felt to be an American when the US Hockey Team upset the vaunted Soviets in the 1980 Games at Lake Placid? Full of national pride and unity, Americans of all flavors enjoyed just being Americans.
Today, the Republic of Iraq gets to bask briefly in that light. No matter what happens tomorrow, today they are all Iraqis.
July 29th, 2007 at 7:11 amAmen to that Dave, very well said! good job to Iraq with their big win..This could very well help with unity and national pride. I dont think every player on the team was a Sunni, or a Shiite or Kurd. United team, possibly united Iraq
July 29th, 2007 at 8:32 amOutstanding. Time for Iraqis of all tribes to celebrate and be one country. No matter what the terrorists do tomorrow, nothing beats an infusion of this kind of morale boost to Iraqi pride.
Dave is spot on.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:38 amI bet the Democrats didn’t like this V
July 29th, 2007 at 12:28 pmDave, the ’80s, the US hockey team and President Reagan. Those were the days.
July 29th, 2007 at 12:52 pmAsian cup ?
woah
if South Korea loose… it reminds me a “mondial” we loose there in 2002, I suppose Iraki were good then
July 29th, 2007 at 3:25 pmWhee! It was soo fun seeing Iraqis AND U.S. troops rejoicing together! Even the CNN reporter said it felt more like a fun party than a warzone!!
July 29th, 2007 at 4:01 pmWrite on Kurt - Heard on FOX News that the Iraqi team consisted of Shia, Sunni and Kurds. Real bad blood on the team until they brought in a coach from Brazil a year or so ago that told them to put all that ethnic crap aside and play as a team or he would find other players that would. Players got on board with the western coach from Brazil and now we see the results. This could be a great incentive to the rest of Iraq to follow suit. I’ll bet Reid and Murtha are pissed. Great news for Iraq = bad news for Dems.
July 29th, 2007 at 4:23 pmIt is really great to see the smiles and celebration of the Iraqi people (and our troops) celebrating their big win of the Asian Cup! All people love sporting events and the pride that comes with events such as this. It does bridge many gaps within groups of people. May the Iraqi people continue to rebuild their country and unite their people so they can continue to enjoy events such as this.
Cheers to the Iraqi people! 
July 29th, 2007 at 9:27 pmIt was bedlam in Baghdad, even the female CNN reporter was spayed with confetti and encouraged to dance…as was every passin GI and Marine. The CNN reporter appeared dumfounded.
What no bad news? Darn…..Kind a hard to report that a party is going on…and not a shooting war…
Talk about putting a cramp in the MSM’s style….
July 30th, 2007 at 6:20 amseems the captain doesn’t want to go back into Irak
July 30th, 2007 at 6:30 amThis is a previous generation’s soccer team, you understand. With the civil disruption in Iraq over the last few years, there have been no leagues or organized soccer of any description, so there is no “feedstock” for the team — which has had to practice abroad in any case. Maybe this win can be leveraged to persuade all Iraqis to get off the dime and turn over all sh**-disturbin’ terroristas of all sectarian stripes (or none) in order to get adequate support to its new Asian Cup Championship tradition!
July 30th, 2007 at 8:48 am