A win for Iraq will mean helluva lot

Iraq's rootless footballers face Paraguay on Tuesday knowing victory will hand their country only a second ever Olympic medal.

Iraq's rootless footballers face Paraguay on Tuesday knowing victory will hand their country only a second ever Olympic Games medal, an achievement which would have been deemed impossible just two weeks ago.

Having stunned talent-packed Portugal in their opening match and then edged Australia in the quarter-finals, the Iraqi side stand just 90 minutes away from a gold medal showdown against either Argentina or Italy. "We have been carrying the dreams of a whole nation," said coach Adnan Hamd.

"That puts us in an extremely difficult position. But everyone in Iraq is happy now. Our achievements can make them forget a little about their problems.

"That's why we are twice as happy -- we have bee successful and we have made our fellow countrymen proud. "From now on, anything is possible. If we make the final it will be a great honour." Victory will also boost their hopes of enlisting FIFA's help in reconstructing the sport back home where the national team haven't played since the downfall of Saddam Hussein.

Opponents refuse to travel to Baghdad and Iraq had to play their home Olympic qualifiers on neutral soil in neighbouring Jordan."FIFA is willing to help Iraq build venues for games," said Sepp Blatter, the president of the world governing body. "It's not nice for teams to refuse to play there. Politics is not an issue for us.

We have a plan to help Iraq.

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