Iraq the Model is celebrating.
Reuters and NYT is also reporting.
From Iraq the Model:
No, the joy is not for "no matter what"….Our team has just won the Asian cup for the first time in our soccer history. The win came through a magnificent goal by the head of our heroic forward Younis Mahmoud at the 71st minute of the match..
Our team ruled the game by all standards; in defense, midfield and attack our players proven that they are the best…they are now the masters of Asian soccer!
Today is definitely the happiest day for Iraqis in years. Tears of joy mixed with prayers for hope on the faces of millions of Iraqis…Words truly fail me and I can't describe the feeling so please pardon me if the post doesn't sound coherent; I hear the cheering and music outside although the bullets of celebration keep falling on the ground and roofs here and there. But no one seems to worry about that, the moment is so great that fear has no place in the hearts of the millions of fans, neither from bullets nor from crazy suicide bombers who tried to kill our joy last week.
Good for them!! Enjoy your party folks.
[Update] BBC is also reporting on this but more importantly, Harry's Place points out something significant:
As head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, Uday oversaw the torture of Iraqi athletes who he regarded as having not performed well enough.
According to widespread reports, torturers beat and caned the soles of the football players' feet. Uday reportedly kept scorecards with instructions on how many times each player should be beaten after failing to meet his standards. One defector reported that jailed football players were forced to kick a concrete ball after they did not reach the 1994 World Cup finals. Uday was killed by US forces in July 2003.
"In the past, the Iraqi players used to play because they were afraid of Uday, the son of Saddam, but now they play out of pride, they play for their country," Haiydar Adnan, 29, a Shiite, said in Baghdad this weekend.
Big difference when they are not terrified and are playing for Pride instead of fear.
Linked by Jules Crittenden...Thanks!!!
Tracked back by:
Iraq Wins Asian Cup, 3 Car Bombs Averted from Bottom Line Up Front...
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