Iraq honours its football heroes

Football is Iraq's most popular sport and has been carefully cultivated by the US-led coalition since their overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

The members of Iraq's Olympic football team, who gave their war-ravaged country a rare reason to rejoice by reaching the semi-finals of the Athens Olympics, were celebrated as heroes during a ceremony in Baghdad on Tuesday.

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A crowd of around 1,000 people sprayed sweets and flowers on the players during a special event in the capital's Al-Shaab stadium which was attended by officials from the youth ministry, the Iraqi Football Union and the National Olympic Committee.

The Iraqis were denied their first Olympic medal for 44 years as Italy snatched third place from them with a 1-0 win on Friday.

But the sensational performance of the unheralded Iraqi team -- including shock wins over Australia and star-studded Portugal -- drew passionate following in Iraq.

Football is by far Iraq's most popular spectator sport and has been carefully cultivated by the US-led coalition since their overthrow of Saddam Hussein whose elder son Uday ran the country's sports scene with a rod of iron.