ZURICH (AP) — Iraq is one game away from the 2026 World Cup in North America, and its veteran coach is feeling little pressure and huge achievements ahead.
For Iraq fans, a 40-year wait in the country troubled modern history A return to the World Cup could be the last of an epic 21-game qualifying campaign. That's more games than any other team to reach the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Iraq simply needs to win a knockout playoff against Bolivia or Suriname, scheduled for March. Bolivia and Suriname met a few days earlier, also in Monterrey or Guadalajara.
“If ever a country is desperate to qualify, this is it,” Iraq coach Graham Arnold told The Associated Press in Zurich after FIFA held the draw for the playoff pairings on Thursday.
“I've never seen anything like this last night,” he said of Iraq scoring a penalty in the 17th minute of stoppage time to eliminate the United Arab Emirates in the Asian knockout stage.
62,000 people saw Iraq win 2-1 and 3-2 on aggregate at the stadium in Basra, a city often plagued by military conflict and unrest since Iraq last played at the World Cup in 1986.
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Video circulating online shows Arnold behind the team's dugout refusing to watch Amir Al-Ammari prepare to score the decisive penalty.
Arnold's playoff pedigree
However, Arnold has seen it and done it before in World Championship qualifying.
He led his native Australia through a win-or-go-home game against Peru in Doha and into the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. His brave coaching helped Australia win the penalty shootout by sending the ball home. backup goalkeeper Andrew Redmaynemade the decisive save.
“The funny thing is I didn’t feel as much pressure,” Arnold said of working with Australia in that playoff, compared with the pressure “I felt last night.”
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“Australia is my country and I love Australia very much, but I have been given a task that could change the country forever,” he said. “And I really enjoy the challenge.”
Iraq's football passion
Arnold was only appointed in May, in the midst of a qualifying campaign starting in November 2023, to take over the job in a country where football is the leading sport.
“The people are beautiful people and they are very passionate about everything they do,” he said, calling the fans “sensational.”
“The whole Iraq situation is a fallacy. You know, they had to go through a war and they're still recovering from that war.”
In 2003, the US military launched a “shock and awe” attack on Baghdad to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime. For the most part last two decadesFIFA has deemed Iraq not safe enough to host games in international competitions such as the World Cup.
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“The roads are busy, everything is busy. But I've been there five and a half months out of six, and I think it's normal,” Arnold said, adding that the heat and dust storms don't bother him.
Ban on social networks
Some of Arnold's team play for clubs in Europe, including Al-Ammari in Poland, former Manchester United prospect Zidan Iqbal in the Netherlands and German-born Merchas Doski in the Czech Republic. Most of them are still in Iraq.
“They have a lot of pressure and a lot of expectations on them,” he admitted of mental health issues. “I banned them from social media for the last two camps, from the day they came in until the day we left. And we didn't lose a game.”
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One game remained in Mexico, the only country where Iraq played at the World Cup. In 1986, Iraq lost three close matches, including to the host nation.
Iraq wants to return.
“45 million people live in Iraq and probably another 10 million or so live elsewhere because of the war,” Arnold said. “So there’s a lot of emotion going on.”
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AP football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
