Can soccer unite Iraq?

The sport of soccer appears to have achieved – if only temporarily – what politicians have failed at, which is to unite Iraqis across sectarian divisions. The underdog Iraq national team pulled off an improbable series of upsets, defeating Vietnam in the quarterfinals, South Korea in the semifinals, and then three-time champion Saudi Arabia in the championship game to win the 2007 Asian Cup. The team, which includes Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds, had Iraqis of all types celebrating in the streets after the championship match. As the NY Times reports:

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 2007 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 wealthier and better-prepared regional rival all the more satisfying…

“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.

While the jubilant crowds remained wary of the bombers and gunmen, many hailed the team’s achievement as a victory, however temporary, over those intent on reducing Iraq to chaos and misery.

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