In Midst of Chaos, Sweet Victory

At a clothing and shoe store down the street, owner Khalid Ahmed and two friends who had come to watch the game barely glanced up when a potential customer came in.

"If there is a disaster outside, we don't care," said a man sitting on the floor who gave his name as Kamal. "We just want to watch the game, even if there is a bomb. This game for us is very important."

In a shirt shop next door, five men clustered around another TV set. Omar, a young man in black jeans and a white shirt, said he came to the shop to watch because he did not have electricity at his house. His friend, Hassanen, said he left work early to watch the game. "Saddam, he is not here anymore, and they can play without fear," he said. "Before, our players suffered very much."

Ali, 15, who watched the game with them, said he was grateful Hussein was gone. "God willing, our team will be the best one," he said. "The important thing now is our players will never have to put Saddam's picture on their shirts."

Without television or radio, the guards back at the checkpoints on Abi Nawwas Street had to rely on updates from drivers whose cars they stopped. As he opened the door of a yellow car to inspect it, Muhsim heard the game on the radio and asked excitedly if the driver or passengers knew who had scored the first goal for Iraq.

Muhsim, a slender man with a neatly trimmed beard who wore the blue uniform of the Iraqi police, said he didn't mind having to scavenge for news of the match.

"It's like the players," he said, his voice becoming solemn. "They have a duty in the stadium. I have a duty in the checkpoint."

Special correspondents Omar Fekeiki and Luma Faruq contributed to this report.