The Iraqi national soccer team triumphed in the AFC Asia Cup this weekend – the greatest sporting achievement in it’s history. Soccer, the world’s sport, has once again brought more people together than politicians and bureaucrats ever have.
As he bounced with joy with friends outside his house in Baghdad’s violence-racked Amiriya neighbourhood, Taha Mahmoud, a 25-year-old computer programmer, said: “In 90 minutes, 11 men on a soccer pitch thousands of miles away have made millions of Iraqis happy while 250 MPs, our government, the mullahs, imams and warlords can’t provide us with a single smile. I hope this is a turning point for our country.”
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2137653,00.html
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