Iraqi Soccer Team unites all of Iraq in Celebration!

[palehorse]

I sincerely hope that amazing events, such as this one, provide the Iraqi people with enough hope, unity, and tenacity to end this bloody mess sooner, rather than later.

Source

Iraqi Soccer Dream Comes True
By GREGORY KRIEG
July 30, 2007

When the final whistle blew after 90 minutes of breathless, passionate soccer, Younes Mahmoud and Hawar Mohammed, the latest heroes in Iraq's Asian Cup glory, crumpled into each other's arms at the center circle of Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

The two 24-year-olds had connected even more famously just 22 minutes earlier-- then for a 71st minute goal that would make Iraq champions of Asia for the first time.

As his players danced around the Asian Cup trophy, their coach, the Brazilian Jorvan Vieira, looked on in relative calm.

"This has brought great happiness to a whole country," he said after the game. "This is not about a team, this is about human beings."

Vieira insisted Saturday he would resign his post after today's final, regardless of the outcome.

"I'm already a winner," he said before the match, "because nobody expected we would make the finals. We were like outsiders."

Speaking to reporters after the win, Vieira confirmed the decision, saying he was headed home to Brazil. To have "brought a smile to the lips of the Iraqi" people was enough for him, he said.

Iraq midfielder Nashat Akram, named the "man of the match" on Sunday, said during the pre-game press conference that Vieira "changed everything" when he arrived in late April. The squad had been hampered by a similar, if less grossly violent version of modern Iraqi sectarian in-fighting before the Brazilian's arrival.

Now, as Vieira told ABC before his side's quarterfinal match with Vietnam, "They are united. They respect each other and have been working together. Who is a Sunni ... who is Shia is not my problem. That is important for the Iraqi people to see."

Sunday's final was played from the opening kick at an almost unceasingly break-neck pace. Neither team accomplished anything resembling sustained possession. Instead it was mad dashes by both Iraqi and Saudi wingers that created the excitement -- and provoked a string of sharp saves from both keepers.

With less than 20 minutes to play in regular time, the head of Younes Mahmoud, the Iraqi captain, flew above the Saudi goal keeper and directly into the path of his countryman's swerving cross, driving the ball into the net and providing the "Lions of the Two Rivers" the lead that they would never relinquish.

.......<click the source link to read the whole story>.........

/discuss

 

[kage69]

Good news for Iraq certainly, but... "amazing" ?


The American shooting team beating Ireland back in the 1870s was amazing. Beating the Russians at hockey in the 80s was amazing. Gretsky utterly dominating the NHL in goals was (and still is!) amazing.

The Iraqi soccer team, beaten and tortured for losing under Uday, has some competent Brazilian talent lead them to victory without using 'the stick.'
That doesn't sound amazing persay to me, more like 'you get more flies with honey than vinegar.'
That sectarian strife didn't riddle the team isn't really a big surprise to me; religious nuts generally stay closer to the mosque than the soccer field anyway.


But hey, if it ends up somehow reducing the violence over there, awesome, lets start supplying TV sets and HD dishes to everyone - maybe appreciation of soccer will replace the urge to gun down neighbors and US soldiers. :thumbsup:

 

[Jaskalas]

Originally posted by: palehorse74
I sincerely hope that amazing events, such as this one, provide the Iraqi people with enough hope, unity, and tenacity to end this bloody mess sooner, rather than later.

/discuss

Fear of terrorism, and hatred brought through civil strife are more enduring than a brief moment of happiness. In fact, they are designed with every intention of bringing a swift end to such fleeting moments.

This changes nothing for Iraq, I wish it did, I wish anything did, but a fervor of chaos has permeated the landscape and the people. If there was ever a need for culling a generation and replacing them with innocent children, this is it.

I think we should be praying such chaos does not find its way to our homes, in light of our utter incompetence at dealing with it. For soon enough it will, and such moments of celebration will be but a memory for the United States as well. While we are distracted in Iraq, our enemy is within. We have turned a blind eye.

 

[Stunt]

Just noticed this today

One survey cited in the report, completed in May by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, found that 43 percent of Iraqis live in ?absolute poverty,? on less than $1 a day.

The report states that as many as four million Iraqis are in dire need of help getting food, many of them children; 70 percent of the country now lacks access to adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003, and 90 percent of the country?s hospitals lack basic medical and surgical supplies.

?The government of Iraq, international donors, and the United Nations system have been focused on reconstruction, development, and building political institutions and have overlooked the harsh daily struggle for survival now faced by many,? the report says.

Good to see their soccer team win, but it's going to take more than feel good comments about unity and hope when the country is in shambles ever since the US invaded. I don't see how Iraqi's can still support the US occupation when their health and economic situation is on the decline.

 

[GoPackGo]

Originally posted by: Stunt
Just noticed this today

One survey cited in the report, completed in May by the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, found that 43 percent of Iraqis live in ?absolute poverty,? on less than $1 a day.

The report states that as many as four million Iraqis are in dire need of help getting food, many of them children; 70 percent of the country now lacks access to adequate water supplies, up from 50 percent in 2003, and 90 percent of the country?s hospitals lack basic medical and surgical supplies.

?The government of Iraq, international donors, and the United Nations system have been focused on reconstruction, development, and building political institutions and have overlooked the harsh daily struggle for survival now faced by many,? the report says.

Good to see their soccer team win, but it's going to take more than feel good comments about unity and hope when the country is in shambles ever since the US invaded. I don't see how Iraqi's can still support the US occupation when their health and economic situation is on the decline.

So its worthless and not a start...may as well still send them to Udays blender.

 

[StageLeft]

Congrats to them. Congrats to the people who were killed by the idiotic masses celebrating their victory by shooting guns into the air.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Congrats to them. Congrats to the people who were killed by the idiotic masses celebrating their victory by shooting guns into the air.

Shooting guns in the air kills people?

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Congrats to them. Congrats to the people who were killed by the idiotic masses celebrating their victory by shooting guns into the air.

Shooting guns in the air kills people?

Yes, bullets don't just go into space

 

[Harvey]

Originally posted by: nick1985
Shooting guns in the air kills people?

Our troops are dying to preserve Darwin award candidates.

Stray bullets kill 4 as Iraqis celebrate Asian Cup triumph

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Celebratory gunfire erupted across the capital Sunday when Iraq's soccer team won the Asian Cup, in a 1-0 shutout against three-time champions Saudi Arabia.

Stray bullets killed four people and wounded 17 others in the capital, an official with the Iraqi interior Ministry told CNN.

Freaking idiots!!!

< sarcasm >

Guns don't kill people. Air and soccer kill people. :roll:

< /sarcasm >

 

[JD50]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Congrats to them. Congrats to the people who were killed by the idiotic masses celebrating their victory by shooting guns into the air.

Shooting guns in the air kills people?

Yes, ever heard of gravity?

 

[nick1985]

Im aware that bullets kill people, but I have a hard time believing that bullets shot straight into the air kill people when they fall. Im sure it wouldnt feel good, but they wouldnt fall with anymore force than any other falling small object.

Harvey's link says stray bullets, not indicating whether or not they were fired straight into the air..


Correct me if wrong...

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: nick1985
Im aware that bullets kill people, but I have a hard time believing that bullets shot straight into the air kill people when they fall. Im sure it wouldnt feel good, but they wouldnt fall with anymore force than any other falling small object.

Harvey's link says stray bullets, not indicating whether or not they were fired straight into the air..


Correct me if wrong...

I think you're right. The stray bullets that killed and wounded were not fired upwards, but rather through a wall into someone's house.

 

[Stunt]

A bullet travels at 1200m/s (2700mph), if shot straight up into the air, the bullet will travel 73,500meters (45miles) up. The likelihood a bullet will get shot directly up (exact 90deg angle) with no effects from wind is near impossible. I'm sure it has happened before, but im sure you are more likely to get struck by lightning.

Leave it to the mechanical engineer to nerd it up