A 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia clinched the Asia Cup for Iraq. It’s ironic that they beat their free-spending Saudi neighbors in the final who leave no financial stone unturned when it comes to preparing for football tournaments. Add to it Saudi Arabia’s involvement in 911 which lead to the Iraq War and we see that this is the closest thing to revenge the Iraqis will ever taste.

After the victory you didn’t read the normal, “We’re so happy and lets get drunk” quotes, instead we get Iraqi captain, Younis Mahmoud, saying stuff like:

“I want America to go out. Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn’t invade Iraq and, hopefully, it will be over soon.”

Fair enough I guess, in the only airtime the guy will probably ever receive he calls for political change. How often do you see that in America? You think if Terrell Owens wins the Super Bowl he’ll call for Medicare reform? If that wasn’t out of place, how about this:

“I don’t want the Iraqi people to be angry with me. If I go back with the team, anybody could kill me or try to hurt me.”

Now why anybody would want to kill the guy for winning Asia’s premier football tournament is beyond the scope of most people’s imagination. Maybe because he partook in a team which had both Shias and Sunis? The football team is probably a microcosm of what Iraq should be and this is probably one of those cases where politics can learn from sport. And to put things in perspective the victory came only a day after 30 Iraqis were killed in bomb attacks.

This is an Arsenal/TFC blog but I thought this deserved its own post.