Gelora Bung Karno stadium, Jakarta, 29 July 2007. Sixty thousand people, none of them at home.
The conditions
Iraq had not hosted a competitive international for years. The domestic league ran in fragments. Players were scattered across clubs in the Gulf, Europe and Asia, and the squad could only assemble outside the country.
The coach was Jorvan Vieira, a Brazilian who had worked across the Middle East and North Africa. He was appointed about two months before the tournament and said openly that he had taken a job nobody else wanted.
The tournament
The 2007 Asian Cup was hosted across four countries. Iraq drew with Thailand, beat Australia, drew with Oman, then knocked out Vietnam in the quarter-final and South Korea on penalties in the semi.
Between the semi-final and the final, celebrations in Baghdad were attacked and dozens of people were killed. The squad discussed withdrawing and decided to play.
The final
Saudi Arabia had reached five of the previous six finals and won three. The match was even until the seventy third minute, when Hawar Mulla Mohammed's corner found Younis Mahmoud, the captain, who headed it in.
Mahmoud finished as joint top scorer of the tournament and was named its best player.
After
Vieira resigned the day after the final. He had said from the start that he would.
The squad was Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen, Sunni and Shia, and the point was made repeatedly at the time by people outside the team. The players mostly declined to make it themselves.
Iraq have not won it since.