The bare statistics will record that in the 71st minute of a soccer tournament 5,000 miles from Iraq, a Kurd from Mosul kicked a ball onto the head of a Sunni from Kirkuk, who ricocheted it into the goal to secure a 1-0 victory for Iraq over Saudi Arabia on Sunday in the final of the Asian Cup.What weeping, shouting, horn-honking, flag-kissing, Kalashnikov-firing Iraqis will remember is that their team, known as the Lions of the Two Rivers, overcame virtually insurmountable sporting and societal odds on Sunday to vanquish the land of the Two Holy Mosques. It was one of the few unifying moments in the recent history of a perhaps fatally disunited country.Taking its nickname from the waterways of the Tigris and Euphrates that gave ancient Mesopotamia its name, the Iraqi team — prevented by the threat of terrorism from training on its own soil and, perhaps, even returning to it— was a little-favored underdog. It had never reached the final of the soccer tournament that its opponent had won three times, making victory over a better-prepared rival all the more satisfying.“This is the happiest moment,” said Ali Hassan, 52, a Baghdad fan dancing in Paradise Square where the famous statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in April 2003. “The Iraqi people are thirsty to have moments of enjoyment.”Even as the team, led by its captain, the goal-scorer and national hero Younes Mahmoud, sprinted across the field at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, jumping and dancing in celebration, Iraqis here and across the country who had watched the game live on television were pouring onto the streets. Most had been forced to watch at home because of a vehicle ban imposed by the government. The ban was intended to stop suicide bombers, after more than 50 people were killed by bombers in Baghdad during celebrations of Iraq’s semifinal victory over South Korea last week. As the celebrations gathered pace, the team, which is drawn from across Iraq’s sectarian divide, was collecting the trophy and winners’ medals.Politicians and others were quick with their congratulations for the new national heroes. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s office said that each member would receive $10,000. But few among the cheering crowds had any time for politicians, of any stripe.“Our happiness depends on these guys who played in Asia; I wish they would come and take over the Parliament, for they are the ones who really represent us,” said Murtada Sabbar, as he danced around the inside of the Sheraton Hotel in Baghdad waving a handgun in celebration.The sectarian killings have touched all of the team’s 22 members. Noor Sabri, the Shiite goalkeeper who helped turn near-defeat in the semifinal against South Korea last week into victory, recently lost his brother-in-law to a bombing.Ayad Aziz Nader, a bare-chested Baghdadi sweating from the exertions of his celebration, said, “This football team has given Iraqis happiness and everything which has been missing for them.” While younger Iraqis ranked the soccer victory alongside or just below the date Saddam Hussein’s government fell, older men with longer memories instantly mentioned another date—8/8/88—the end of Iraq’s far longer, and bloodier, war with its neighbor Iran.The Baghdad daily newspaper Azzaman carried a heroic poem in its sports supplement, extolling the team in high rhetoric: “Through football may Iraq forget its disputes and woes, and bring rejoicing close”. In Jakarta, throughout the match, a sympathetic crowd of more than 60,000, which included thousands of Iraqi fans, chanted “Iraq! Iraq!” Iraqi flags hung from high in the stands and one large sign read, “Peace for Iraq.”The team was cobbled together from all over the Arab world less than two months ago and had to overcome its own ethnic divisions to succeed, not to mention having to train in neighboring Jordan, under a part-time Brazilian coach who has signaled his intent to depart forthwith.After the victory, team members said repeatedly they hoped their success would be seen as an example, and maybe bring peace to their home. They said it again Sunday night. “I hope this win can help unite my country,” said Nashat Akram, a forward on the team.It was a victory welcomed just as much, perhaps more, by the millions of Iraqis forced abroad by this and earlier conflicts, unable to return to their homes. And yet few believe the violence will be stopped for long.In Paradise Square in Baghdad, Khaled Talib shrugged before a turquoise-domed mosque. “As long as there is Iranian and American occupation the crisis will still go on,” he said. “Death is coming faster and faster toward us. There is no light at the end of the tunnel in which we live.”
