Iraq wins the Asian Cup (soccer)

[Aerlik]

Last night, Iraq beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 to win the Asian Cup for the first time.  The team is composed from the Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurd populations within the country and the victory over SA was well deserved.  The game was pretty average to say the least with the Iraqis setting up more (albeit few) scoring chances and the Saudi keeper concentrating on stopping shots as opposed to faking injury every time the ball came near the goal as was the case in the semi. v. Japan (the best game of the tournament and with two of the best goals of the tournament - the Japanese volley and the individual goal from the Saudi winger).

The celebrations at the end were great to watch and the Indonesian presidential body guards were all probably expecting their redundancies this morning after the fiasco on the dias.

Of note was the no-holds barred attack on the Aussie team by their own in the studio afterwards where, in no uncertain terms, they were told to show a bit of humility and respect to opposition as they were running around boasting how they were going to win the whole thing before a ball was kicked. 

A few political comments were made at the end, too, suffice to say C-standard Aussie/soccer commentators should concentrate on the game not politics.  I doubt if the Kurdish community in Australia would be too happy with some of the stuff spouted.

[stephenite]

Didn't see any of the final, but the captain of the Iraqi's looked like a handy player.

Think something like 70 people had been killed in the celebrations after the games played before the final across Iraq - mind boggles

[The Real Laoislad]

Not sure which player but Roy Keane is interested in signing one of them

[his holiness nb]

Not sure which player but Roy Keane is interested in signing one of them

Jaysus I know Baghdads having a bad time of late, but could he really lower himself to live in Sunderland?

[Mentalman]

Not sure which player but Roy Keane is interested in signing one of them

Younis Mahmoud, the Iraqi captain and the scorer of the winner. Wouldn't move becuase he wants to bring his family, understandably, but his Da likes it there - so you were right Your Holiness, given the choice between Baghdad and Sunderland, he'd rather stay put!

Was also supposed to be after Nashat Akram, also one of their better players.