BAGHDAD - The Iraqi soccer team's overtime win against Qatar, which will send it to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade, has at least briefly united the fractured country in ...

A stampede outside a soccer stadium in the southern Iraqi city of Basra killed at least one person on Thursday after fans who had been sold fake tickets for a prestigious regional tournament ...

Soccer fans attempt to enter the Basra International Stadium to watch the final match of the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup between Iraq and Oman, in Basra, Iraq January 19. Mohammed Aty/Reuters ...

Soccer-mad Iraq celebrates; authorities watch for potential attacks, disorder. July 30, 2007 — -- When the final whistle blew after 90 minutes of breathless, passionate soccer, Younes Mahmoud ...

Once a major force in Asia, Iraq’s soccer team reached its peak in 1986, qualifying for the World Cup tournament in Mexico. But, with its country ravaged by wars and embargoes, the Iraqi team ...

Iraq Scores A Rare Victory With Soccer July 29, 2007 / 11:51 AM EDT / CBS/AP Wild celebrations erupted across this war-ravaged nation.

The soccer season is currently in a three-month hiatus, and Sameer Sadeq al Mosawy, an officer of the government-supported Iraqi Olympic Committee, the group that disbanded the Iraqi soccer ...

"The Iraqi soccer team made us happy despite all of our deep sorrow," said Sami Talib, 54, a Shiite and retired teacher living in western Baghdad, to The Associated Press.

But the Iraqi soccer team reminds us that the Olympics can still be good for something . . . good. At their best, the Olympic Games are like taking a picture of the world as you'd like it to be.