KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Noor Sabri and his Iraqi teammates watched TV replays of the wild celebrations that their Asian Cup quarter-final win over Vietnam provoked in Baghdad on the weekend, and it added to their resolve to go further.
If one thing unites Iraq's Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds amid the factional conflict that dominates their daily lives, it is seeing their national soccer team win.
Seeing "all our people in Iraq celebrating victory supports our morale and we hope to do it again," Sabri said on the eve of Wednesday's Asian Cup semifinal against South Korea.
"It's very important for us and for our people in Iraq — all of the people in our country pay great attention to it. Now it is a very critical situation in Iraq ... victory in the semifinals, this will bring great happiness to the people in Iraq."
Iraq toppled pre-tournament favourite Australia in the group stage and outclassed Vietnam in the first knock-out round to reach the Asian Cup semifinals for the first time in three decades, ending a run of three consecutive quarter-final defeats in the continental championship.
Goalkeeper Sabri, who with striker Younis Mahmoud and midfielder Nashat Akram form the backbone of the team, credited coach Jorvan Vieira with developing a cohesive combination.
"I have nothing but praise for the coach," said Sabri. "We had problems before ... (but) he managed to bring all together and unify the team."
Vieira said he had worked out in his 48 days with the national team that the secret to uniting the far-flung collection of Iraqis was simple.
"Iraq people are like Brazilian people and everyone who loves football," he said. "This situation is critical and complicated, but from the beginning I tried to keep my players under pressure to do their best for their country, to try to bring more happiness to the Iraq people.
"And this they have done until now."
Vieira's squad contains Iraqis of differing persuasions. When he took over, he said, he told them the only way to succeed was to put any differences aside.
"They're united. They're very good. Everybody has a problem in their lives, about communication and relationships," he said. "What I try to do with this group is to (get them to) respect each other, to be together and to work and fight for their flag.
"This is the most important. In the end, all of them are Iraqis."
Iraq has made a recent habit of performing beyond expectations at major events, making the semifinals at the Athens Olympics in 2004 and the final of the Asian Games in Doha last December.
Again at the Asian Cup, which brings together the top squads from 16 countries, the Iraqis have exceeded expectations.
"Our mission is finished in one sense, because nobody expected we'd," reach the semifinals, Vieira said. "Now we're meeting the top four teams in Asia, it's good for my players, good for the country, good for the people to show the real value of Iraq."
Vieira predicted a tough encounter against South Korea, the 2002 World Cup semifinalist. Sabri went a step further.
"We have our own ambitions — we hope to reach the final," he said.
Iraq lost 3-0 to South Korea in a friendly match in the leadup to the Asian Cup, but Vieira said the circumstances are completely different now.
"By coincidence, we went to Korea to prepare. They smashed us very well, 3-0. In very different situation," he said. "We'd travelled for 36 hours without any stops. It was good experience, good fitness preparation.
"Tomorrow will be different than it was in Jeju, 100 per cent."
