Our Iraqi Football Team reached Asian Cup final

My beloved country Iraq reached the first Asian Cup final in our football history on Wednesday 25th of July 2007, beating South Korea 4-3 on penalties in a very excited semifinal that ended goalless after extra time.

Noor Sabri was our hero when he saved Korea's fourth spot-kick from Yeom Ki-hun.

After Ahmad Menajed had made it 4 for us - 3 for the Douth Koreans, Kim Jung-woo hit the post to send the our players into raptures.

The Iraqi players dedicated the dramatic win to the Iraqi nation.

"Only happiness in our camp... everyone is very happy and we have reason to be happy. This victory is for the Iraqi people because they deserve that," our coach Jorvan Vieira told a news conference.

"There is only happiness in our camp and our boys worked very hard to achieve it," Vieira added.

"It was a great game," Iraq coach Jorvan Vieira told a news conference. "The game was 50:50 but we missed more opportunities than them. We were tired too, but Korea were more tired than us."

The Iraqis team went into the match in confident mood having topped qualifying Group A in which they beat a fancied Australia.

We showed during the match brilliant individual skills and our team deserved to win.

Gunfire erupted across our cpital Baghdad and most the Iraqi cities as we the Iraqis celebrated the national soccer team's victory over South Korea to reach the final of the Asian Cup.

our Iraqi people poured into the streets of Baghdad, waving national flags and cheering. An Iraqi television reporter choked back tears of joy as he joined the celebrations on a Baghdad street.

Iraqis in the autonomous northern region of Kurdistan even waved Iraqi flags in a rare display of national unity.

I hope that we will see more celebrations after we win the final match next Sunday.

God willing, we the Iraqi people will prevail and triumph.