When George Bush took time out of whatever he was doing as US President to pay tribute to the winners of the Asian Cup, then you knew that something special had happened. So it was back in 2007. There has never been a bigger story in Asian football than Iraq becoming champions for the first and – to date – only time.
In terms of the talent that the Lions of Mesopotamia had at their disposal, it wasn’t a huge shock. Iraq had long had good players, first appearing at the World Cup in1986. Their Under-20s won the Asian Youth Championship in 2000 and, with many of the same players, the Under-23s reached the last four at the 2004 Olympics – beaten to the bronze medal by an Italy team featuring Andrea Pirlo, Giorgio Chiellini and Daniele De Rossi. Three years later, much of the squad that went to Athens was ready to take on the rest of Asia at senior level.
Nevertheless, heading into the finals – co-hosted by the Southeast Asian quartet of Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand – there was little cohesion, confidence or camaraderie.
