Iraqi football heroes leaving after 24 hours

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Baghdad, Aug 4: Most of Iraq's Asian Cup winning football team were to head for Jordan on Saturday, barely 24 hours after returning to their war-torn country for official celebrations, a sports official said.

"Those leaving today will use the same plane as yesterday," said Tariq Ahmed, a member of the Iraqi Football Federation, referring to the chartered plane that brought the team from Jordan on Friday afternoon.

Five of the 22-man national side are to remain in the country, two of whom have contracts with a club in the northern city of Arbil, in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, Ahmed said.

"Some of the players will return to Amman for various reasons. Some have contracts in Jordan, or in Syria, or elsewhere. The others, who don't have contracts or external commitments, will remain in Iraq," said Ahmed.

Goalkeeper Noor Sabri, who on Friday headed the line-up greeted by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, has a contract with an Iranian club, he added.

Around a third of the players did not return to Baghdad even for Friday's official festivities held under thick security in the heavily fortified Green Zone, including captain Yunis Mahmoud who scored Sunday's winning goal.

Mahmoud, a Sunni Arab, had said he feared death if he returned to Baghdad. Owing to the danger in Iraq, the national squad trains in Jordan and many team members play their club football abroad.

The team dedicated their Asian Cup victory to a stricken mother whose 12-year-old son was killed, one of more than 50 people slaughtered in Baghdad bomb attacks after Iraq's semi-final victory over South Korea.

AFP>