The heroes of 2007

Every so often football gives us narratives that make us love the sport even more - particularly underdog stories. It’s human nature to back the unlikely winner in the hope that you can witness history. That is what Leicester City experienced in 2016 when they were crowned Premier League Champions - despite being 5000-1 favourites and having only been in the League for 2 seasons. An honourable mention has to go to West Germany for their success with winning the 1954 World Cup against Hungary, who were the favourites at the time. West Germany, who didn’t even have a professional league, were made up entirely of amateurs and these achievements come with great merits. However, the Iraq Football Team winning the Asian Cup whilst there was deadly conflict all across their country could perhaps be the greatest achievement in footballing history.

Formed in 1956 - the AFC Asian Cup stands as the oldest continental competition behind the Copa America. Prestigious as it is, the highest FIFA ranking team going into the 2007 tournament was Japan at #36, who happen to have won it a record 4 times. Comparably, Iraq were ranked #80 and the peak of their success had come previously in the 1980’s when they won gold in the 1982 Asian Games, an accomplishment to untaint the disappointment of losing the 1982 World Cup Qualifiers. They would however make it to the 1986 World Cup only to finish bottom of their group with powerhouses Belgium, Paraguay & hosts Mexico advancing into the next round. Iraq managed to sign the decade off with silverware from the 1988 Arabian Gulf Cup and the 1988 Arab Cup - with a total of 9 competitions won by the side, this arguably marked Iraq's golden generation. The 1990’s sparked the Gulf War which was to fracture Iraq, especially the team, who were banned from all Asian football competitions. 

Being a footballer in Iraq during the 90’s was risky business - with Sadam Hussain invading Kuwait, provoking a dark period for the team as well as the people living there. Although Sadam, as intimidating as he was, wasn’t in fact dictating Iraq’s Football Association, instead he delegated that to his son Uday Hussain - who was also in charge of Iraqi National Olympics. Dangerous and unpredictable like his father, he could never follow in his footsteps and lead Iraq. This realisation came after a drunk and disorderly altercation at an afterparty, when Uday decided to murder his fathers personal parking valet in front horrified guests. With this behaviour in mind, failure wasn’t an option for the athletes and this came at a cost when the Iraqi National Football team failed to make the 1994 World Cup Finals. It was reported that Uday was so upset with his team's performance that he made them train with a concrete ball, with certain individuals he blamed for the performance sent to prison and tortured. Uday’s creativity to mentally and physically torture didn’t stop there - beatings, bathing in raw sewage and head shavings were just some of the barbarous methods Uday chose to motivate athletes and coaches. Uday founded his own club called Al-Rasheed and demanded that all other teams hand over their best players or suffer imprisonment. Understandably dominating the league, some players were reluctant to leave their teams. Ahmed Radhi was among the few who were kidnapped in the middle of the night by Uday’s men. Beaten and sent death threats, it didn’t take long before Radhi changed his mind and joined Al-Rasheed. Although the psychotic Sadam and his son Uday would eventually be killed/executed, Iraq would still remain a dangerous place to live. Militant groups across the country broke out into a Sectarian Civil War. With that in mind, the football team miraculously made it into the 2004 Olympic Games, where they narrowly missed out on a medal - finishing in fourth place. Iraq accomplished this without a manager, as previous coach Bernd Stange stepped down in fear before the tournament had started after his personal driver was executed. 

Fast forward to 2007 - newly appointed Brazilian manager Jorvan Vierra, who had recently converted to Islam, was tasked to bring a fragile team some glory. It wasn’t exactly easy for Vierra to begin with - the country was experiencing civilian deaths that were in the hundreds every day. The Iraqi FA couldn't provide the kits for the upcoming Asian Games, there was a shortage of food for the team and detained players could only spell fatigue, fear and frustration. To top it off, Iraq couldn't play any home games in Baghdad for security reasons. Instead, they had  to play in their neighbouring country - Abu Dhabi. Vierra had inherited some good players from the 2004 Olympic games. Midfielders Hawar Mulla Mohamed, Nashat Akram and young prolific striker Younis Mahmoud. The Iraq National Team had many languages spoken by different players, the players had mixed identities from Shia, Sunni & Kurdish backgrounds - something which the militant groups of Iraq disapproved of. Their means of extorting the players and threatening their families was the final tipping point, leading the team, along with a million other Iraqi refugees, seeking asylum in Jordan. To put into perspective on how brave these players were, winger Hawar Mulla Mohamed described how he would bring a machine gun to training, Nor Sabri’s Brother in law was killed right before the Asian Games & a small number of the players who decided to turn up at training would report constant airstrikes throughout their sessions. Two days before the tournament was to begin in Thailand, Iraq’s Physio would be on his way to Baghdad to visit his pregnant wife, only to be killed by a car bomb. Vierra would have to rescue a small glimmer of hope and restore harmony if anything was to be expected, which unfortunately the players knew there wasn’t. 

On the 7th July 2007 - Iraq’s first group stage game against co-hosts Thailand got off to a mediocre start - they secured a 1-1 draw despite conceding a penalty in the 6th minute of the game and prodigy Younnis Mahmoud scored just under half an hour later to give them their first point of the tournament. In hindsight the treacherous weather conditions was not something that the players prepared for. It would be Iraq’s second game that would perhaps upset the balance of things when they beat favourites of the tournament Australia 3-1. Following on from that a 0-0 draw came in their next game against Oman. Iraq would top the group with 5 points and a place in the quarter finals. Younnis Mahmoud would prove himself to be the team's wonderboy when he scored a brace against Vietnam in the quarter final, with the game finishing 2-0. Iraq had drawn another favourite of the competition - South Korea - who were plausibly stronger than Australia. The game went right down to the wire and Iraq progressed through on penalties, with goalkeeper Noor Sabri being the deciding factor. For the first time in Iraq’s history, they had made it to the finals of the Asian Cup against all odds. As imagined, pandemonium flooded the streets of Iraq as everybody celebrated into the night. Celebrations were cut short when a suicide bomber approached a busy ice cream palour full of football fans, killing 30 people. Another 20 were sadly killed across the city by other suicide attacks. The team directly pointed the blame at themselves. Horrified, the Iraq team considered withdrawing from the competition. That was until a bearving mother paid a touching tribute to the team after her son Haider had been killed by one of the suicide bombers. The mother insisted that the team go ahead and win the tournament in his honour. 

The final saw Iraq take on rivals Saudi Arabia who had a familiar history of reaching the final - winning it 3 times. With the highest attendance throughout the tournament, 60,000 fans watched Iraq control the game. Although they found it difficult to break them down, the deadlock was lifted in the 72nd minute when golden boy Younnis Mahmoud caught a sailing cross over the Saudi defence to head in the ball in at the back post. Iraq won this competition through pure determination, Mahmoud was awarded with the Player Of The Tournament. This achievement alone briefly united a war-torn country together, unity was resurrected again and this chapter in Iraq’s history will be cemented forever.

Article by Nathan Ousby