Mick Hartley

A spot of good news from Iraq:

The Iraqi football team has celebrated a victory in the first international football match to be held in Iraq since the US-led invasion of 2003. 

The final score in the match played in the northern town of Irbil against a Palestinian team was 3-0. 

The game has been hailed as a symbol of the promise of better times ahead for Iraq, and players released a number of white doves before kick-off. 

The last time Iraq played at home was in 2002 in a 2-1 win over Syria…

Under Uday's leadership, motivational lectures to the team included threats to cut off players' legs, while missed practices resulted in prison time and losses resulted in flogging with electric cable or baths in raw sewage, if penalites or an open goal was missed or own goals were scored then that person would have their feet whipped with thorns.

That – the 3-0 victory over Palestine – was on Friday. A return match yesterday in Baghdad saw a 4-0 victory:

Baghdad's Shaab stadium, which seats about 45,000 people, was full to bursting point with jubilant Iraqis waving flags and cheering on their national side, although few Palestinians made it to the game.  

Some fans sat next to the goals at both ends of the pitch until Iraqi security forces cleared them away. 

Iraq hopes to convince FIFA the country is safe enough to host official soccer matches again. 

"I am so happy!" shouted Jabbar Qassim, 21, shortly after performing a break dance with his friend to an amused crowd. "Mark my words: I will come to every match the Iraqi football team plays in Baghdad forever." 

The country hosted on Friday its first match since the war in the northern Kurdish city of Arbil. Iraq also beat Palestine in that match, 3-0.

 FIFA, soccer's world governing body, approved both games, but has yet to lift a general ban on Iraq hosting matches. 

"We have waited more than six years for this," said Nasser al-Shimari, 37, who brought his family. "It's great to see our team live. Now we feel like any other country in the world." 

One family came from Basra 420 kilometres (260 miles) by car….

"The message is clear: the audience is showing there is security in Baghdad," said Najeh Ihmoud, deputy head of the Iraqi Football Federation. "They are sending a message to the international union to lift the ban on Iraqi sport." 

Iraqis love football. Their team were the surprise winners of the 2007 Asian Cup. The victory brought rare unity to nation riven by sectarian war, with Shi'ites, Sunnis and Kurds pouring onto the streets to celebrate a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia.