The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Iraq upsets Portugal

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 14, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Iraq upsets Portugal

VOLOS (GREECE), AUG. 13. Iraq's football stars know they can't do much to stop the bombs and bullets in their homeland. But for 90 minutes they made their nation forget thanks to Thursday's 4-2 beating of star-studded Portugal at the Olympics.

Another chapter of Iraq football's amazing story was written in Patras, where the team that couldn't play any of its qualifying games on home soil came from behind to beat one of the Olympics' strongest medal contenders.

"This victory will be received with happiness by my people, who have suffered through much," said Iraq coach Adnan Hamad. The result put Iraq top of its group. The Iraqis handed the first goal to Portugal in the 13th minute when defender Haidar Jabar accidentally turned the ball into his own net while trying to clear a pass by Cristiano Ronaldo. Three minutes later, however, striker Emad Mohammed tied the game after picking up a rebound from the goalkeeper, Moreira.

Iraq went ahead 2-1 in the 29th when Hawar Mulla Mohammed scored on a soft shot after dribbling past the goalkeeper, but Portugal tied it a minute before halftime on a goal by Bosingwa.

Younis Mahmoud put Iraq ahead 3-2 in the 56th, and Salih Sadir scored during injury time to seal the victory.

Now Portugal has to beat Group D rivals Costa Rica and Morocco, who drew 0-0 to reach the quarterfinal.

Ghana holds Italy

Ghana was six minutes away from scoring an even bigger upset against Italy. First-half goals by Emmanuel Pappoe and Stephen Appiah put the African team two up at halftime. But Giampiero Pinzi replied three minutes into the second half and Parma striker Alberto Gilardino, captured a point with an equaliser six minutes from the end.

Because of the draw, Paraguay went top of Group B after beating Japan 4-3 in another thriller. Jose Cardozo scored two first-half goals, and Pablo Gimenez had a goal and an assist.

Shinji Ono scored two of Japan's goals on penalty kicks in the 22nd and 53rd minutes, both resulting from fouls committed against Daiki Takamatsu.

Football takes a break until Saturday when Argentina faces Tunisia in Patras.

The results:

Men: Group B: Ghana 2 (Emmanuel Pappoe, Stephen Appiah) drew with Italy 2 (Giampiero Pinzi, Alberto Gilardino); Paraguay 4 (Pablo Gimenez, Jose Cardozo 2, Aureliano Torres) bt Japan 3 (Shinji Ono 2, Yoshito Okubo).

Group D: Costa Rica 0 drew with Morocco 0; Iraq 4 (Mohammed Imad, Mohammed Hawar Mulla, Mahmoud Younis, Sadir Salih) bt Portugal 2 (Abdul Razzaq Haidar - own goal, Bosingwa). — AP

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