Asian Cup victory showers Iraq with joy

BAGHDAD -- It was a day Iraqis will remember.

Millions watched yesterday as the underdog Iraqi national soccer team won its first Asian Cup, beating three-time champion Saudi Arabia, 1-0, in overtime.

Fans took to the streets to celebrate across Iraq -- in Kurdish areas to the north, Shi'ite holy cities to the south, and several neighborhoods in the capital.

Revelers took to the streets, painting their faces with the tri-color Iraqi flag, throwing candy, or shooting fireworks in triumph. Iraqi soldiers waved from passing vehicles. Honking cars clogged the main route into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, home to the US Embassy and US military posts.

Sporadic gunfire, much of it deemed to be celebratory, still could be heard hours after the game ended. At least two civilians were killed in clashes with Baghdad police and two more in gunfire after the game, police said.

Khadim Lafta Alwan, a government worker, was among those shooting in the southern city of Basra. "It's a triumph and unity for Iraqis, a glorious day. Why not celebrate?" said Alwan, 37.

Leaders from various sects, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Muslim; Vice President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and members of the largest Sunni Arab bloc congratulated the team, as did General David H. Petraeus, the top US military commander in Iraq. "This is a gift to the united Iraqi people, to the different spectrums of the Iraqi people," said midfielder Nashaat Akram as he stood drenched in sweat on the field in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In Baghdad, the victory by the team fans call "The Lions of the Two Rivers," after the Tigris and Euphrates, reminded Shi'ite Muslim laborer Muhammed Hussein of Iraq's potential. "These players helped us keep our faces up," Hussein, 43, said. "They showed us what the real Iraq is and how we can work hard to be something."

Although parliament remained in session yesterday, it was eclipsed by news of the game. Political blocs put their squabbles on hold for the day, with the largest Sunni party postponing a major statement in light of the game.

As tennis coach Mustafa Faraj, 53, observed, "It seems that sports have become more important than politics."

At a time when sectarian tensions between Shi'ites and Sunnis have worsened in the Iraqi government and on the streets, the soccer team has been credited with helping unite Iraqis. Its leaders include Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims who work well together and often talk about overcoming sectarianism.

Zuhair Muhammed Jabir, a policeman in the southern city of Hilla, said the last time he was so happy was the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003.

"Now we are facing all this terror and violence -- Iraq is bleeding," he said. "The win is a bandage healing those wounds. It's a lesson to politicians that Iraqis can be one. We were all supporting our team, none of us was saying this player is a Sunni, a Shi'ite or Kurd."

About 200 men paid $2.50 each to watch the game on banks of big-screen televisions at the Babylon Hotel in central Baghdad. They shouted advice, cheering, "One, one, one. Iraq is one," and, finally, "Bring us the cup!" as the final seconds ticked down.

Many listened with apprehension as a chorus of automatic gunfire erupted across the capital and in several other cities, despite warnings issued earlier in the day by Iraqi security forces and the country's leading Shi'ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who forbade the gunfire with a religious "fatwa," or edict.

In the northern Kurdish city of Irbil where the game was broadcast at malls, soccer fans were waving the Iraqi flag, taboo in recent months, since it is viewed by Kurdish leaders as a leftover from the Saddam regime. Fans also danced the "debka," a traditional Kurdish dance.

In Kirkuk, a northern oil city known for its various ethnicities, Sirwan Rasheed, 55, a Kurd, said he erected flags in the team's honor with friends of various sects and ethnicities -- Sunni and Shi'ite Arabs, Turkmen, and Christians. "This team has united the sons of Iraq from the south to the north," he said.

Another Kirkuk resident, Ali Jabar, 23, sacrificed a lamb for good luck before the game. The government employee said Iraq's bickering politicians "who were never able to put a smile on Iraqis' faces," should take a lesson from the soccer team.

Along with scenes of street celebrations across Iraq, Arabic language stations also broadcast footage of Iraqis celebrating in California and Michigan.

In Sadr City, the Shi'ite enclave in Baghdad where some of the soccer team's players were raised, residents who were without power for three days coordinated generators to ensure they wouldn't miss a minute of the game.

Meanwhile, at least 13 people were killed in violence across Iraq yesterday, including several explosions in the capital. A mortar struck near the home of the French ambassador, injuring three of his guards, police said. Baghdad police also recovered 17 bodies dumped in the streets.

The US military reported that two American soldiers were killed yesterday -- one north of Baghdad and the other in an eastern section of the capital -- bringing the total number of US troops killed since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq to 3,648, according to icasualties.org, a website that monitors deaths in Iraq.