Doha: When Younis Mahmoud rose high and headed the ball home from a corner kick on a balmy Jakarta evening on July 29, 2007, the largely Indonesian crowd inside the imposing Gelora Bung Karno Stadium erupted in joy. 



It was no secret that their sympathies lay with Iraq, who had overcome great hurdles just to compete in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup.



Iraq’s rivals for the title were Saudi Arabia, who were already three-time AFC Asian Cup champions. With a seemingly limitless budget and facilities that would be the envy of the world’s top teams, simple logic dictated that victory was theirs for the taking.

But then, sport is sometimes no hostage to logic. That is why it brings crowds to stadiums. That is why the whole of Asia, and indeed the whole world desperately wanted Iraq to win.

The very prospect of an unfancied, rag-tag bunch of players, who even struggled to get proper kits for the tournament, winning Asia’s most prestigious sporting prize was so compelling that even sports fans not too keen on football couldn’t escape its pull.

 
Just think of it: Iraq came into the 2007 AFC Asian Cup winning only two of their eight pre-tournament matches. Even their manager Jorvan Vieira was hired just two months prior to the tournament and the team were forced to train outside Iraq due to the security situation.

Brazilian Vieira recalled: “Several of the players had lost relatives in the conflict. Only six players turned up to our first training session.

“Our physio was killed by a bomb in Baghdad two days before we flew out to Bangkok – he was on his way to the travel agent to buy his ticket. Then, upon arrival, two of our players were detained for eight hours by immigration officials. I discovered we didn’t have equipment to train with or even kit. We had problems with the food, the hotel booking. It was a nightmare.”

But despite all this their fortunes took a turn for the better as they went on to top Group A with a shock 3-1 win over giants Australia and draws against Thailand and Oman.

They then beat Vietnam in the quarter-finals 2-0 and prevailed over Korea Republic 4-3 via penalties before etching their names in history with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the title-decider.

If ever there was a miracle in such a high-profile tournament in such a high-profile sport, this was it.

Iraqis took the streets in large numbers to celebrate, bringing together all segments of society in a show of unity and bonhomie.

"It's a huge success for Iraq and it's a very, very good news for Iraq," Iraq's then national security adviser Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie told the BBC.

"You should come to see the jubilation and the joy which is spreading all over Baghdad's streets now. People are pouring in, hundreds of thousands of people are pouring into the streets."

Commentator Simon Hill said: "The fairytale is complete. The team without a home base, the team without a coach until two months ago, the team left waiting in a hotel lobby for hours, the team who struggled to travel because of their passports… the team without hope has brought joy to its fractured nation. Football succeeds, perhaps you could say, where politics has failed. Iraq are champions of Asia - unbelievable!"

Iraq’s Man of the Match in the final Nashat Akram (pictured above, centre) said there is "only one Iraqi people" and that the win was for them.

“Prior to the tournament, the planning, organisation and team selections were woeful. We barely had any time to regroup before the tournament started. Honestly speaking, I didn’t expect much from us in terms of progression after the difficulties we experienced,” said Akram.

“The squad turned up to the Asian Cup with only one shirt for each player. We had to wear the same shirt when we went out to eat and during travels. We only had the one match kit too! Our group games were on the 7th, 13th and the 16th of July – I had already booked my ticket home on the 17th because I fully anticipated us getting knocked out early."

It was only apt that captain Mahmoud, Iraq’s most famous footballer with 57 international goals from 148 matches. scored the winning goal of the final to win the Golden Boot as well as the Most Valuable Player awards at the tournament.

He said: “The Iraqi people are very, very passionate about football, and words can’t describe how much they needed that moment of joy in what was a period of such devastation.”

Can they do it again this time?

We will only know in the next few weeks but as current coach Srecko Katanec said, “The players will be giving their all. The commitment is 100 percent.”


Source: the-afc.com