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If you missed last Saturday’s football game (that’s ‘soccer’ for
our North American readers) between Assyriska Föreningen and IF
Elfsborg you may have just failed to take notice of one of the most
exciting sports teams in Europe and football clubs around the world.
Over ten thousand spectators watched this year’s most exciting
football match at the Råsunda stadium in Stockholm. Two weeks prior to
this glorious day, the Assyrian team of Assyriska had knocked out
Sweden’s Djurgårdens, the UEFA Champions in the semi-finals. Now they
had to prove their superiority one last time against Sweden’s first
division team, Elfsborg.
The first goal in Saturday’s game was planted by Lars Nilsson four
minutes into the first half. Nilsson gave his team another goal with a
header midway through the second half.
With no goals attributed to our Assyrian players, Elfsborg won the
Swedish Cup with a 2-0 win over second division team, Assyriska. This
victory qualified Elfsborg for next year’s UEFA Cup against first
division runners-up, Hammarby.
Because of the players’ Assyrian background and ties to Iraq and
Turkey (birthplaces of some players), the game had quickly become a
political statement in itself. Sweden has often criticized the
U.S.-led war on Iraq, saying it did not have United Nations' approval.
The former Foreign Minister Anna Lindh in a statement on 6 June had
said that U.S. President George W. Bush had acted like a ''lone
ranger'' on Iraq and warned that other countries could be tempted to
follow America's example. Anna Lindh, 46, was one of Sweden's most
popular politicians and was a likely successor to Prime Minister Goran
Persson. She was stabbed to death on 10 September.
But like many other Assyriska fans, Zinda staff and thousands of
Assyrian-Swedes were – regardless of any political bias – glued to TV
sets or gathered in Stockholm to observe the football match of the
year – perhaps the decade. The most awesome and inspiring moment, one
that can never be erased from the memory of any attending fan, was the
appearance of an enormous Assyrian flag representing the aspirations
of millions of Assyrians worldwide. Resistance was futile. Tears were
readily flowing down our faces - the old and the young. This was not
only a football match, but also a political statement. That the
Assyrians exist and wish to be recognized for their own merits and
accomplishments.
Nothing will bring us greater joy than watching the lions of
Assyriska Föreningen clinching the final championships of Cupen
Svenska and every European football club in the coming year.
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