January 19, 2023: The Arabian Gulf Cup Stampede

Basra International Stadium

NOTE: While these entries are dated 2022, I decided to backdate the posting dates of events from 2023 onward to the same date in 2022.

January 19, 2023: The 25th Arabian Gulf Cup Final is held at the Basra International Stadium in Basra, Iraq. It was the 1st time the tournament had been held in Iraq since 1979.

In between was the entire tenure of dictator Saddam Hussein, the Iran-Iraq War, the Persian Gulf War, the Iraq War, and the rebuilding from all of that. But this event, too, would feature a disaster.

Iraq, the host nation, had advanced to the Final, seeking their 1st title since 1988. Their opponents were Oman, who had won as recently as 2018. Officially, Basra International Stadium seats 65,227 people. In a statement before the game, Iraq's Ministry of Interior encouraged anyone who did not have tickets to the Final to leave the area around the stadium. It stated that the stadium was completely full and that all gates had been closed. Thousands of people without tickets didn't listen, and tried enter the stadium. This resulted in a stampede that caused over 80 injuries and killed 4 people.

In spite of the tragedy, the game went on. Iraq led 1-0, but the officials added on a lot of stoppage time, and Oman received a dubious penalty, and scored in the 100th minute to send the match to extra time. Iraq got a penalty in the 116th minute, and led 2-1. But in the 119th minute, Oman equalized again. Finally, in what should have been the 122nd and last minute of the game, Manaf Younis scored to give Iraq the 3-2 victory.

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January 19, 2023 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was between the Wild Card and Divisional rounds of its Playoffs. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The Brooklyn Nets lost to the Phoenix Suns, 117-112 at the Footprint Center (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

* The Boston Celtics beat the Golden State Warriors, 121-118 at the TD Garden in Boston.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Detroit Pistons, 126-108 at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.

* The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Toronto Raptors, 128-126 at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

* And the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 105-95 at the Moda Center in Portland.

And there were 13 games in the NHL:

* In an "Original Six" matchup, the New York Rangers lost to the Boston Bruins, 3-1 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders lost to the Buffalo Sabres, 3-2 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo. Dylan Couzens scored just 12 seconds into overtime to win it.

* The New Jersey Devils lost to the Seattle Kraken, 4-3 at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. André Burakovsky scored the winning goal with 3:50 left in overtime.

* The Florida Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 6-2 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1 at the Wells Fargo Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.

* The Carolina Hurricanes beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-2 at the PNC Arena (now the Lenovo Center) in Raleigh, North Carolina.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Winnipeg Jets, 4-1 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.

* The Anaheim Ducks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3 at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus.

* The St. Louis Blues beat the Nashville Predators, 5-2 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

* The Edmonton Oilers beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton.

* The Washington Capitals beat the Arizona Coyotes, 4-0 at the Mullett Arena in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2 at the T-Mobile Center in the Las Vegas suburb of Paradise, Nevada.

* And the Dallas Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings, 4-0 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.