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I have been putting off writing this bittersweet story as an Iraqi. Mainly because while the sweet part is the sweetest, the bitter one almost felt like poison as I relive it. This is the full story of how Iraq while going through a civil war and being invaded, won the Asian Cup in 2007 through my eyes.

The Beginning

In late 2003, I was in a car with my older sister heading over a bridge. As we looked ahead we found four U.S tanks starting to aim at us. I remember my sister quickly trying to have a U-Turn with the car, so much so that the car almost fell off the bridge. That was the day we learned that we were being occupied.

A few days later, and after we have been staying home for safety, a rocket struck the nearby university and the house glass shattered and felt like it was about to crash down. So, we moved to my relatives' house which was an area we knew would be safe in the meantime. The reason I am sharing this part is because that was the sentiment across the country. No one felt safe.

There was a feeling of hopelessness everywhere. The shops remained closed, and often we would hear neighbors fight over food. There was this common feeling that this was the end. That feeling changed slightly the year after.

The 2004 Summer Olympics

The reason this version is important is that out of the 17-players-team in the Olympics, 14 were part of the national men's team in the Asian Cup.

Barely a few people seemed interested in the game but still, a big group of people got together and hooked up wires and aerials on a small TV that at times split in half vertically with the top showing the game while the bottom showing snow. We were about 40 people watching Iraq's first game in the Olympics against Portugal.

Worth noting, that the Portugal team had Cristiano Ronaldo and many players who went on to have great careers and also included a few players who'd won the Champions League just a few months prior.

In that game, Iraq won 4-2, with Younis Mahmoud scoring the third with a busted head covered with bandages. As we were celebrating more people started to join us. I think we were like 100 people by the end staring at an old busted TV barely showing the game.

The Remainder Of The Summer Olympics

It became like a ritual in the whole neighborhood to watch those games, and that was the case everywhere in Iraq. 2 hours every few days where war didn't matter, disagreements didn't matter, it was just everyone getting together and cheering.

We won the second match, then lost the third but it didn't matter as we already qualified. The higher we got through the tournament the more people were going out and expressing love for life.

I remember throughout that time, my cousin Saif, who was starting his cancer treatment would even ask everyone in the expanded family to record the matches for him. And at the hospital, we'd actually bring a TV in and watch it with him. He was really enjoying it. That's how much Iraq's run in the Olympics meant for us.

Iraq of course didn't win the tournament, didn't even manage to get the third place after we lost to Italy. I remember that we were sad but

A Hope Was Born

Not just hope that this team might win something, but contagious hope across the country that tough times will go by. A hope that we can be united and this isn't the time for us to start fighting over food yet. That run was so inspiring that my cousin Saif vowed on the day we lost to Italy that he will get healed from cancer just to watch the team win a trophy.

Suffering didn't stop, but the nation remained to give us a pause from all the horrible things we see around to just sit down and have fun. I remember my cousin fighting just to be able to watch the next game.

Of course, between that point and the 2007 Asian Cup, there was destruction, division, and civil war where some people lost their lives because of their names. But that's the story for the next part where I will talk about how the national team went into a football tournament carrying the pain of an entire nation on their back and carrying it through to the end and come back with glory.