The Iraq team celebrate after their win over Saudi Arabia in the final match at the AFC 2007 Asian Cup at the Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta on Sunday. Iraq won 1-0. (AFP)

JEDDAH, 30 July 2007 — There will not be another wild night of celebration in the Kingdom. That was the scene many people were expecting to happen across the country for, after all, Saudi Arabia were heavily favored to win the Asian Cup final against Iraq in Jakarta yesterday.

But the Iraqis, against all odds and in an inspiring moment in sports, defeated the three-time champions in the final match 1-0 on a header by Iraq’s best striker Younis Mahmoud in the 71st minute. In Iraq, the country celebrated its first-ever Asian Cup championship in their very first trip to the final uniting a nation torn by sectarian strife.

According to many sport critics, Iraq deserved to win as they managed to effectively neutralize Saudi’s two most dangerous strikers Arabia Yasser Al-Qahtani and Malek Muaz. For the first time in this competition, Saudi Arabia were assigned the dark-color uniform, meaning they had to dress for the match in traditional green jerseys as opposed to the white ones they wore while winning matches on the way to the final.

The coaches were both well motivated coming into the all-important match. Iraqi coach, Jorvan Vieira, wanted to etch his name as the first coach to lead Iraq to a major Asian victory, while the Saudi coach, fellow Brazilian Helio dos Anjos, wanted to make an impact after taking over the team from Marcos Paqueta in March by winning the cup for Saudi Arabia for the fourth time. Indonesian fans showed sympathy with the Iraqi team for the political difficulty and suffering from terror attacks their country is facing. The Iraqis wore black armbands in memory of innocent lives that were lost during a terrorist bombing when Iraqi fans back in Iraq were celebrating the semifinal win against South Korea. Iraq had the stingiest defense in this championship with only two goals scored against the Iraqi goalie. Saudi Arabia had the best strike force of Muaz and Al-Qahtani. Many expected the Saudi striking line would be a match for the Iraqi defense. The exact opposite held true — Saudi defense could not match up the fast attacks from Iraqi strikers while Muaz and Al-Qahtani were paralyzed by the Iraqi defense.

Iraq managed to take control from the first minute after they dominated the midfield. Iraqi attacks were fast and the ball moved from the backline to the striking line in less than 7 seconds, while the Saudis took longer time building an attack. Iraq were better in the first 10 minutes of the match. Their defense, middle and striking line were well organized while the Saudis looked confused in their execution of plays. Iraq played man to man and pressured rivals in their half side of the field and never gave them a chance to relax with the ball or build an attack. It was the tandem of Mahmoud and Karrar Jassim who gave the Saudi defense line a major headache. In the minutes 21, Mahmoud breached the defense and took the ball inside the penalty box but the Saudi goalkeeper Yasser Al-Musaileem secured his cross. In the minutes 27 Jassim launched a rocket ball that went on the left hand side of the Saudi goalie. Jassim again was on in minutes 41, nearly scoring from a nice shot but his ball caught the right hand side of the goalie. The only serious Saudi threat came in the 44th minute from Al-Qahtani who dribbled the ball to the edge of the penalty area before launching his shot that hopped over the bar. In the second half, the Saudi coach fielded in Ahmad Al-Mousa for Abdul Rahman Al-Qahtani to boost the striking line. The move failed to produced desired results as the Iraqis continued to dominate. Saudi midfielder Tayseer Al-Jasim launched a rocket shot in minutes 60 from a distance but his ball was blocked by Iraqi goalie Noor Sabri Abbas. Iraq nearly opened the score in minutes 62. Mahmoud received a pass inside the penalty box and mounted a shot that Al-Musaileem blocked only for Nashat Akram to hit a shot on the rebound that Al-Musaileem again pushed away. Karrar refused to give up, and from a nice header in minutes 66 nearly scored but the ball traveled on the right hand side of the goalie. Then Mahmoud’s moment came. Mahmoud rose to head a corner kick that Hawar Mulla Mohammed floated to the far fast after Al-Musaileem came for the ball without success.

This gem of a setpiece sparked a frenzy in the Iraqi camp and left the Saudis stunned and unable to comprehend what had hit them. Saudi Arabia changed tactics and pushed forward in search of the equalizer that never came. Iraq pushed back and relied on fast counter attacks by their only striker Mahmoud on a 5-4-1 formation following the departure of Mahmoud’s partner Jassim. Mahmoud came close to scoring a second goal in the minutes 76 when he reached scoring position in front of the Saudi keeper. But the goalie ably defended to prevent another goal that could have been the mercy bullet to bury the Saudi players for good. Nevertheless, the Saudis continued to push forward in desperation with a Malek Muaz header just grazing the crossbar of the Iraqi goal. After the long whistle, Iraqi players shed tears of joy in celebration of the victory that was nothing short of a miracle by a team that brilliantly added to the slew of surprises in the regional competition. Prince Nawaf ibn Faisal, deputy president of the Saudi Youth Welfare Presidency and head of the Saudi delegation, congratulated the Iraqi team for the win and the championship. He also expressed his satisfaction of the overall Saudi performance in the competition. He said, “We all saw the strong performance of the Saudi players that reached the final of the competition. Saudi Arabia lost only one match out of six matches.” He said that Saudi Arabia lost the title but Saudi football won a young team of the future. Saudi fans were satisfied with their national team’s performance in the competition. Faisal Eshfaqa, a fan who was watching the match in a Jeddah café, said that the Saudi team gained a new team despite the title loss. He said, “We have to admit that Iraq is a strong team and winning against Iraq was possible but we have to know that the Iraqis wanted to win and give a nice present for the Iraqi people. Saudi Arabia celebrated early after winning against Japan and thought that by winning against Japan the Saudis won the title. This was not the case. The Iraqis took advantage of this situation and managed to deal with it the best way. They paralyzed the Saudi team in the mid half of the field. Congratulation to Iraq and best luck to us in the future. We have a strong young team that would lead the Kingdom in the next five years at least.”