As Americans were celebrating Memorial Day, Iraqis too were somber. That’s because Iraq’s struggle for peace got even harder on Monday when FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, suspended Iraq’s national soccer association, preventing Iraq from international play.

FIFA took action after the Iraqi government dissolved the Iraqi Olympic Committee. Defending its actions, the government said it made the move because the Committee was operating illegally, had refused to hold new elections, and members had become corrupt. Others, however, believe the decision is motivated by sectarian differences and is an abuse of power.

But whatever the reason, the issue must be resolved soon. A country ravaged by sectarian violence, soccer may be the one thing that can unite it.

History has shown that soccer can unify a country enough to make its citizens forget their differences. In June 2006, Ivory Coast’s debut in the World Cup, international soccer’s greatest competition, bonded the country so much that it committed to end the four-year civil war which divided the North and South. Less than a year later, the country officially reunited.

Indeed, during the 2004 Athens Olympics, soccer gave Iraq ethnic amnesia. Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds comprised Iraq’s national team that year. Fans united to support their team, not their sect. “No one in Iraq cared that a Kurd scored the first goal against Costa Rica,” an NBC report said. “They just cared that an Iraqi scored.” With the support of its country, the team that practiced alongside grazing sheep made an unlikely run to the quarterfinals.

Deceased Army Pfc. Nick Madaras realized that soccer can unify. He started a program which sends soccer balls, and hope, to Iraqi children. But it’s not that soccer holds a magical power. It’s that soccer supports and teaches a timeless biblical principle: teamwork. Which is why, as Ron Borges says, the soccer field may be the perfect training ground for a peaceful, united Iraq:

“It happens [on the field] first, this idea of abandoning old hates and fears in exchange for cooperation and, in the end, victory. Perhaps it must be delivered there first, on a place where politics counts the least because it seems safest there for all involved.”

UPDATE (May 29):

After Iraq clarified its reasoning for disbanding its Olympic Committee, FIFA has reinstated the countries soccer association. Such a decision could not have come too soon. As the New York Times reports, Iraqi soccer is “a rare symbol of national unity.”

While there are many nuances which must be considered in the Iraqi democratic experiment, the power of a common goal cannot be understated.

As Baghdad resident Najah Nasser says, “It is very good news, because football is the only relief for us.”