After 2 canceled seasons, soccer teams bouncing back - Yahoo! News:
Soccer is this country's most popular sport, and the Iraq Premier Football League is the pride of the country. During the 1970s and 1980s, Iraq's national team was a competitive force throughout the Middle East and Asia, competing in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.The league continued playing even during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War and the 1991 Persian Gulf War. But just before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the league shut down for two seasons because of violence and lack of money. Last season, the league began playing again.
Iraqi soccer received a big boost at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, where its national team amazed the world by finishing fourth. It didn't win a medal but brought home something valuable: hope.
'Despite all the hard circumstances, we are playing football and challenging the terror,' says Al Shurta coach Hameed Salman, 39. 'I bet if any other country were in the same situation, football would have been forgotten.'
