In a wonderful story, the Iraqi National Scoccer team overcame tremendous odds and unprecedented personal hardships to win the Asian Cup. The beat a very good and seasoned Saudi Arabia side 1-0. Here’s some of the Reuters story:

Iraq were forced to train and play their qualifiers in neutral countries and their coach, Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira, who said he planned to quit after the match, only had two months to mould a team that included Shi’ite, Sunni and Kurdish players.

None of the Iraqi players have been untouched by the war and although they have tried to mask their grief, there were constant reminders of the sectarian violence at home.

At least three players in the squad have lost relatives in the past two months and all the players wore black armbands during the final in memory of the 50 people killed by suicide bombers after Wednesday’s semi-final win over South Korea.

Someone make sure congressional Dems get a copy of this story.