A Team to Celebrate Liberated from Saddam but still living in danger, a nation rallies behind its surprising soccer squad

Gunfire in Baghdad has become so commonplace that it seldom draws
headlines. But on May 12 Iraqis took to the streets and fired
furiously into the air because of the headlines. For the first
time in 16 years the country's men's soccer team had earned a
berth in the Olympics.

"It was amazing the way the news flew through this city and how
everyone felt a sense of pride," says Mounzer Fatfat, an American
who has worked as a senior adviser on rebuilding sports in Iraq.
"Iraqis love soccer, and the fact that this team fought its way
into the Olympics was something everyone rallied around. For a
few hours nothing else seemed to matter."

Entering its final match in the regional qualifying tournament,
in Amman, Jordan--where the squad played "home" games because no
opponents would go to Baghdad--the Iraqi team seemed unlikely to
need reservations for Athens. Even after the Iraqis beat Saudi
Arabia 3-1, their only hope to advance was for Kuwait and Oman to
play to a scoreless tie. That's exactly what happened, filling
the streets of Baghdad with cheering crowds. When the team
returned the next day, the celebration continued.

No team in these Games has traveled a more difficult road than
Iraq's soccer squad. For years team members were tortured at the
whim of president Saddam Hussein's son Uday, who ran the
country's Olympic committee. (Uday's actions led the IOC to
suspend Iraq's membership from May 2003 until February.) Even now
the team is not immune to the violence racking the country. In
early July, after threats from terrorists that he would be killed
if he set foot again on Iraqi soil, Bernd Stange of Germany
resigned as Iraq's national team coach. Though Stange had helped
guide the club to Athens, he was not the Olympic coach; that job
is held by an Iraqi, Adnan Hamd, who will be on the sideline on
Aug. 12, the day before the opening ceremonies, when the Iraqis
take the pitch at Pampeloponnisiako Stadium outside Athens to
face Portugal.

Seven other Iraqis are expected to compete, in boxing, judo,
swimming, track, taekwondo and weightlifting. They were invited
by the IOC, even though they did not meet qualifying standards.
"The IOC wanted to make sure the new Iraq had athletes in Athens
carrying the nation's flag and telling the world that Iraq is
back," Fatfat says. "And they wanted to make sure that one of
those athletes was a woman [sprinter Ala' Hikmat will run in the
100 and 200 meters], so that we can start encouraging young girls
to get into sports."

Raad Abbas Rasheed, who is entered in the taekwondo competition,
can't wait for the Games to begin, even though he--like the rest
of the contingent--has no chance at a medal. "It will be a proud
moment when I represent Iraq in Athens," he says. "This will not
be true just for me, but for all the athletes who suffered under
Saddam's regime. Athens is a wide gate to a new life for all of
us."

COLOR PHOTO: HUSSEIN MALLA/AP The team has rebounded from years of fear and torture under Uday.