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| A group of employees from Hanwha Engineering & Construction cheer for the Iraqi national football team during its Oct. 2 match with Thailand at the Incheon Football Stadium. The Iraqis won 1-0 to capture the bronze medal at the Incheon Asian Games. / Courtesy of Hanwha Engineering & Construction |
By Kim Tae-jong
A group of unusual spectators went to a rain-soaked Incheon Football Stadium on Oct. 2. They flocked there to watch Iraq and Thailand compete for the bronze medal in football at the Incheon Asian Games.
Cheering for the Iraqis were some 100 employees of Hanwha Engineering & Construction, a leading South Korean builder. They created one of the more interesting scenes at Asia's biggest sporting event, as participating nations far from the host country tended to have few supporters for their events.
With the Hanwha group cheering the team on, Iraq's Khalaf Younus Mahmood Khalaf scored the winner in the 62nd minute to help his side clinch a 1-0 victory and the bronze at the Asiad.
After their victory, the Iraqi national football team rushed toward the fans bowing and raising their hands to express gratitude as they celebrated their victory.
The Hanwha group's support for the Iraqis was not a random decision. The company has a special relationship with the country that began when it signed a contract in 2012 to build an enormous city in Iraq.
The South Korean builder has agreed to handle the $8 billion project to construct a new city in Bismayah in the Middle Eastern country.
Hanwha Engineering & Construction President and CEO Lee Keun-po said the company will build mutual trust with Iraq as it carries out the massive project.
"We have been on the right track in our project to build a new city in Iraq," Lee said. "In fact, we have successfully built up our good relationship with the country. We will do our utmost to be a company that will be well recognized by the Iraqi government and its people."
Iraq's bronze-medal performance in the most recent Asiad was not surprising, given its past success in Asian Games football.
In the 1982 New Delhi Asian Games, the Iraqis won the gold medal with a 1-0 win over Kuwait in the final. In its return in 2006 from a 20-year hiatus, Iraq's football team again enjoyed success, as it reached the final against Qatar, but had to settle for the silver after a 1-0 defeat.
At Incheon, the Iraqis defeated Nepal, Japan and Kuwait 4-0, 3-1 and 3-0, respectively, in the group stage. In the first match of the round of 16, they beat Tajikistan 4-2, and in the quarterfinal they won over Saudi Arabia 3-0.
But the Iraqis' winning streak ended as North Korea won a dramatic semifinal match. North Korea's Jong Il-gwan scored five minutes into the first extra period and held onto the lead.
Apart from the Iraqi football team's bronze, the country won one gold and three more bronzes, placing it in 25th place in the medal standings.
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