04/20/24
August 13, 2004
Iraq Stuns Portugal in Men's Soccer: They came to town wearing new jackets that proclaimed, "Iraq is back." And in their first competition, Iraq's underdog soccer team confirmed it, beating Portugal, 4-2, in the opening round of Olympic preliminaries today. Is this the same Portugal team that made it to the finals of Euro 2004?
Yeah, under 23, I think. FIFA won't allow it any other way, since it would compete with World Cup if it were 'full' participation.
posted by tieguy at 08:16 AM on August 13, 2004
Good on them! Regardless of politics and what one thinks of what is going on in Iraq, I don't think anyone will be pulling against their Olympic Athletes.
posted by trox at 08:58 AM on August 13, 2004
Original article requires registration. Here's a link to an article that doesn't. Whatever their eventual result, I hope when these guys go home, they take a trip to Uday Hussein's grave and piss on it.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:43 AM on August 13, 2004
Didn't Portugal get a free pass to Euro 2004 because they were hosts?
posted by worldcup2002 at 10:45 AM on August 13, 2004
wc2k2, yeah, they did.
posted by blarp at 11:35 AM on August 13, 2004
on second read, I think usfbull meant the "final" (as in final match), not "finals" (the championship tournament in Portugal). I think it is the same team at the Olympics as in Portugal because it was mostly the youth team ni both cases, wasn't it?
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:20 PM on August 13, 2004
ni!
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:20 PM on August 13, 2004
Again with the ni? Getting old dude! Also, aren't Oly squads allowed three 'senior' players? Italy (I watched the match against Ghana yesterday) is captained by Pirlo, who is 25.
posted by billsaysthis at 01:37 PM on August 13, 2004
Unbelievable
posted by StarFucker at 01:57 PM on August 13, 2004
Come on. It's not like the Olympic soccer tournament is a proper tournament. It's like those Mickey Mouse pre-season friendly tournaments.
posted by salmacis at 05:01 PM on August 13, 2004
See Uday, they can win even without the torture......
posted by DonovanMD at 02:16 AM on August 15, 2004
olympic teams are made up of young players.. under 23 perhaps? i think the only person on both the euro 2004 and olympic team for portugal is cristiano ronaldo and his foofy hair. the only person i've heard of, certainly.