Asian Cup Football Semi Finals

Saudis celebrate football victory

Soccer: Saudi football fans poured on to the streets of the main cities Riyadh and Jeddah in celebration on Wednesday after their national team powered their way into the final of the Asian Cup.

As the whistle blew in Hanoi leaving Saudi Arabia 3-2 victors over Japan and set for a showdown with Iraq in the final, fans who had been watching the game live on television ran into the streets waving flags and dancing.

Within minutes, long convoys of cars wound through the main streets of the capital and the kingdom's second city of Jeddah, fans honking horns, singing and yelling.

"The Asian Cup is ours," shouted one delirious fan, ecstatic that Sunday's final in Jakarta will be an all-Arab affair.

"But we will not be very upset if the cup is won by the team of a fellow Arab country Iraq. It is important that an Arab country wears the Asian Cup crown."

In Kuala Lumpur earlier on Wednesday, Iraq stunned South Korea 4-3 on penalties to surge through to the final.

Unlike in Iraq, where car bombs in Baghdad killed at least 26 fans among thousands sharing a rare moment of national joy, celebrations in Saudi remained peaceful.

RIYADH, Thursday AFP

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Iraqi players on emotional rollercoaster

Soccer: The Iraqi team are on an emotional rollercoaster after reaching their first Asian Cup final as it took a bloody toll back home where at least 26 celebrating fans were killed.

Iraq shocked the more fancied South Korea 4-3 in a penalty shootout after it was scoreless after extra time on Wednesday to put them on the brink of their greatest footballing achievement. They had only got as far as the semi-finals in 1976 and lost in their last three consecutive quarter-finals at the Asian Cup, but now travel to Jakarta for an all-Arab final with Saudi Arabia on Sunday.

"Everyone is happy and we have reason to be happy because this victory brings us to the final and we deserved that," said Iraq's Brazilian coach Jorvan Vieira, who has been in charge for less than two months.

"My boys have worked very hard." An emotional Vieira said the victory was for "the people of Iraq because they deserve it". Thousands of Iraqis wearing team jerseys and waving national flags poured on to the streets of Baghdad cheering and firing assault rifles wildly into the air after the match to celebrate a rare moment of shared joy.

But the jubilation didn't last long. A massive car bomb detonated in the formerly upscale western neighbourhood of Mansour in the middle of a crowd, killing at least nine men. Another 62 people, including women and children, were wounded in the blast.

Kula Lumpur, Thursday AFP