By VictorM: The Iraq national soccer team, against enormous odds, beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 to with the Asian Cup final. A truly remarkable sporting achievement under any circumstances, but more so given their present conditions.

Here are some comments that provide a striking reminder of what the Iraqi people have to endure:

Iraq were forced to train and play qualifiers in neutral countries and [Brazilian coach Jorvan] Vieira... only had two months to mould a team that included Shi'ite, Sunni and Kurdish players. 'I have learnt a lot from this last two months,' Vieira said. 'We all know the problems in Iraq but I have learnt that they are a fantastic people."

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 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.

Mahmoud, who was named best player of the tournament, said one of the tragedies of the war was that the team would not even be able to return to Iraq with the trophy. 'I wish we could go, but you just don't know who will kill you,' he said.