QAYYARAH, Iraq — Clouds of black smoke continue to fill the gloomy-looking sky in Qayyarah, south of Mosul, casting an ominous aura above the land over which they cast a shadow. Islamic State (IS) fighters lost control of the town they once lorded over on Aug. 25, 2016, and in October, when pushed from nearby territory set the oil wells of northern Iraq ablaze in a wretched, last ditch effort to spread even more terror among people who have wanted nothing more than the simple life, including the members of Team Asoosa (Founders Team) football club.

The players — young Iraqi men who for the last few years have wanted to play football on the fields they grew up on — finally began reuniting in February after months as internally displaced persons (IDPs). “You’ll find us here every evening, from 3:30 p.m. until night,” Nadheen Nimr, an Arabic teacher and club organizer, told Al-Monitor. “Next time bring your boots,” Nimr said jokingly, referring to soccer shoes, not the military kind with which they have become all too familiar.

The now infamous smoke turning local sheep black forms the backdrop for familiar makeshift goals, made of jackets and shirts, and the usual arguments over whether a shot was “post and in,” that is, a goal. What is unfamiliar about the scene is the smell of petroleum terrifyingly filling the lungs of all the residents of the area.

Team Asoosa, which competes against other teams in the area, was organized by Nimr, who had been the players' teacher in high school. “They were all great pupils,” Nimr said, “except him, he joked, pointing toward Younes Ahmed. “He was the troublemaker.”