Football
Debayan Sen in Doha 7y

Air Force and the hopes of a nation yearning to soar

Everybody loves a good underdog story, in sport and in life.

Saturday's AFC Cup final in Doha -- being billed as the most important game in Indian football in over half a century -- features a team that might be considered partial favourites in sheer football parameters, but on closer inspection have consistently punched well above their weight this year.

Iraq's Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, or Air Force Club.

To begin with, this is a team that is made up of servicemen. This nomenclature led to some rather amusing exchanges at the press conference on the eve of the final, with the AFC official conducting it referring to both the team captain Ali Al Saadi and head coach Basim Al Suwaid as "Captain" when addressing questions to them, leading both to turn their head towards him before clarifying who needed to go first.

Seniority, one would imagine in both age and rank, wins the day and coach Al Suwaid goes first, "If Air Force win this one, it will be the first time for Iraq. We will be very proud of what we have achieved. For the first time in a long time, we are this excited about the national team and the Iraq team."

With Iraq as a country still considered unsafe to host football matches in, they have played their home games in the AFC Cup in Qatar, though their regular venue this year has been in Al-Wakrah, a city about 22 kms from the final venue. The hurt of not being able to play before their home fans comes through in the voice of both Al Saadi and Al Suwaid.

"I hope that my team isn't nervous. I hope they aren't thinking too much about the tactical pressure that the opposition will be putting on us," says Al Saadi. "I think we should be able to handle the pressure, considering they have played before 50,000 people at the Al-Shaab Stadium."

Al Suwaid denies any suggestions that his team will be under pressure, though if you read their body language at their practice session soon after wrapping up their press meet, it belies a nervous energy natural for a team playing its first continental final.

"Iraq football has done well on the world stage, as far back as the 1986 World Cup in Mexico," says Al Suwaid, who played in the Iraq midfield as they acquitted themselves well in a group comprising Mexico, Paraguay and semi-finalists Belgium. "Right now, the priority is to get more games back home and FIFA has been helping us try to do that."

Al Suwaid, whose team will be missing two key players in centre-back Samal Saeed and midfielder Bashar Rasan through suspension, is not taking his opposition for granted, though he agrees they will hold the slight physical edge. "Sport is not about just the body. We don't think about any team in just a physical sense," he says. "We will play to our strengths. We are aware of our opponents. They have beaten the champions."

Another of Al Suwaid's replies is about whether his team feels any additional pressure as the sixth Iraqi club now being looked at to break what fans have come to believe is a jinx of losing continental finals. "Considering the situation in Iraq, people like watching at the Al-Shaab Stadium. When the situation demands that we play outside Iraq, we try to make it better," he says.

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