Jubilant Iraqis Savor Their Soccer Triumph

Several fans agreed that the win was a miracle, but insisted they knew all along that Iraq would triumph. Baghdad resident Laila Abid said she was upset when her husband predicted that Saudi Arabia would tie the score.

"He said, 'They will get a goal now,' and I was really angry with him, so I hit him with my slipper," Abid said. "Iraq won by a gift from God."

After the game, Abid and her husband joined the celebration in the streets, passing out chocolate.

The post-game festivities in Baghdad lasted well into the night, with vendors handing out free ice cream and water and young men shooting weapons into the air and hugging strangers. Despite multiple warnings from the military and government not to engage in celebratory gunfire, shots rang out for more than an hour.

Several casualties were reported as a result of stray bullets, but an emergency security operation in Baghdad prevented a repeat of the violence after the semifinal game. Vehicles were prohibited on all city streets from game time until Monday morning to minimize the chance of car bomb attacks, which killed 50 people after the South Korea game.

The day of celebration was not completely devoid of politics. After the match, Mahmoud said he would not return to Iraq and called for a U.S. withdrawal. "I want America to go out," he said. "Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out."

In Irbil, a city in a semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, Kurds mixed freely with Arabs displaced from other parts of the country despite the ongoing tensions between the groups. Though Kurds have often sought to disassociate themselves from the turmoil in the rest of Iraq, thousands chanted "Iraq! Glorious Baghdad!" in the streets after the game.

Many Irbil residents carried small Iraqi flags, which were confiscated by police because of a law against displaying anything but the Kurdistan flag. Instead, revelers waved white handkerchiefs.

"We are all one today, with one heart for Iraq and against terrorism," said Mahmoud Fadhil, a displaced Baghdad resident who now lives in Irbil. "Look, over here there are Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians, all of them with one heart today."

Fans across the country acknowledged that a soccer game could not solve the deep problems facing Iraq and that violence between Sunnis and Shiites would return all too soon. But none of that mattered.

For one night, at least, Iraq had something to celebrate.

Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi in Baghdad, Saad Sarhan in Najaf and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.