If any of you were to be asked, about which was the greatest triumph in the field of sports in the year 2007, I would get a variety of replies ranging from the magnificent and deserved victory of Australia in the cricket world cup or the nerve wracking finish of Kimi Raikkonen who stole the formula 1 title from under the nose of Lewis Hamilton. One group of supporters would hoot for Roger Federer for achieving greatness at the hallowed lawns of Wimbledon, joining an elite group of tennis players to conquer the Wimbledon 5 times.
Back home in India, if you ask the people this question, the people here would probably say that that India’s win in the 20-20 World Cup would rank right at the top.
But, in my view, the most gut wrenching and courageous victory has been achieved by the Iraqi football team, who fought against all the odds and showed the world true character and resilience by winning the Asia Cup.
The newspaper headline read “Skipper Younis Mahmoud's thumping headed goal crowned Iraq as the Asian Cup champions for the first time with a stirring 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the final here in Jakarta.”
Unless you are a person who has been living on an isolated island for the past 3 years and has been cut off from the rest of the world, you would be all aware of the current state of Iraq and the hardships it is undergoing. The victory of the Lions of the Two Rivers, as the Iraqi team is called sent a wave of joy through the war-torn country.
The victorious run sent men of all ages cheering and dancing in Baghdad. Celebratory gunfire resounded across the city and revelers poured into the streets in defiance of orders from authorities while mosques broadcast calls for the shooting to stop. Security forces enforced a vehicle ban in an effort to prevent a repeat of car bombings that killed dozens celebrating Iraq’s progress to the final. Some of the players who were part of the Iraqi team lost there family members to the violence, while the tournament was going on.
Fighting against unimaginable odds and crusading over an unhelpful and unworthy administration, the teams triumph set a fantastic example of what deeds a motivated and driven human spirit could achieve. But even during these joyous moments for the football team, the situation back home in Iraq only got worse. More than 50 Iraqi people were killed while they were celebrating the semifinal victory," Younis Mahmoud, the captain who scored the winning header in the final, said. "One of the victims was a 12-year-old child. His mother, when his body was laid in front of her, she didn't weep, but she said: 'I present my son as a sacrifice for the Iraqi national team.' We have to win."
Even the team support staff wasn’t spared from the violence. The coach, Jorvan Vieira - a Brazilian who in one month transformed a disparate and divided team forced to train in Jordan, paid tribute to the team's physiotherapist, who was killed by a bomb blast in Baghdad while picking up his plane ticket. Despite this victory the captain courageous Younis Mahmoud is unable to celebrate his historic achievement .When asked about what were his plans when he returned home and about whether he would like a victory parade in Iraq, he replied,
"Who secures my life?
In Iraq you do not know who will kill you."
He said he did not fear being among the Iraqi people "but the American and the Government troops? One of my closest friends, the official forces arrested him for more than one year, and until now neither his family nor I know where he is.”
"I don't like the American people to be angry with me but I am very sorry the Americans invade Iraq, and I hope it will be very soon to get rid of the Americans.”
That clearly depicts what people want. People want peace, peace and just peace. Even news reports show that.
In spite of all the talks of the increasing and worsening divide between the religious sects in Iraq, the situation in Iraq is just the opposite. One such person is Ali Adnan, an Iraqi now living in Amman, Jordan, who told Reuters:"I congratulate the wounded Iraqi population, and I hope we get more and more victories. I ask God to unify the Sunnis and the Shi'a. There is no difference between us. We are all brothers under this flag and under this team.
In Baghdad, similar sentiments came from Muhammad Muhisin, a Shi'a from the predominantly Shiite Karrada neighborhood of the capital."The joy yesterday was not just because we have won, but because it has united Iraqis and brushed aside sectarianism," he said. "People started to feel that they are Iraqis and that they are happy about this achievement, which is an achievement for only Iraq."3
In spite of having the odds heavily stacked against them still ,they hung on to the hope, that one hope that could bring joy and happiness to thousands of suppressed Iraqis; that hope that would bring a smile to the Iraqi people. One smile was all they needed to break the monotony of war and violence and that smile, which had become a rare commodity in Iraq, was provided by the most unlikely of sources. It is a victory of human courage and human spirit which comes straight from the fables.
This victory just confirms what wonders a human can do if he has the courage to defy the situation that is stacked against him.
As Albus Dumbledore says in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince that Voldemort was in so much hurry to split his soul that he never really understood the power of a full pure soul. Sure the Iraqi people have understood and realized the power of the pure human soul and human courage.
