When the Confederations Cup in South Africa begins, the primary goal of the Iraqi team will be recovery from the disaster that befell the team during the Gulf Cup of Nations in Oman earlier this year.
The Iraqi side crashed out of the tournament — which pits the Arab states of the Gulf against each other every two years — after the first round, managing only a draw against Kuwait. Following the Gulf Cup fiasco, the three-time champions sacked their Brazilian coach Jorvan Viera and assistant Radhi Shenaishil took over as caretaker until the appointment of Serbia’s Bora Milutinovic. Shenaishil stepped down as Milutinovic’s assistant a few weeks before the start of the Confederations Cup over a conflict with the Serb.
Milutinovic holds the distinction of being the only coach to have led five different countries to the World Cup finals: Mexico, Costa Rica, the United States, Nigeria and China. Iraq have been drawn in the Confederations Cup along with hosts South Africa, whom they face in the tournament opener on June 14 at the Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg, 2008 European champions Spain, and New Zealand.
Although they managed to avoid Brazil and Italy, it might seem ambitious for an Iraqi team to be aiming for the semifinals of the competition in the light of the difficult situation that the country itself is currently in.
But when it comes to performance, then ambitious is the right word for the ”Lions of Mesopotamia”, as the Iraqi national team are known and Milutinovic is confident that he will have a competitive side.
”Given the atmosphere in the group and the capability of the players, I’m sure the result will be a good one,” he told journalists.
Many believe though that Milutinovic, who achieved remarkable success taking China to their first-ever World Cup finals and advancing beyond the first round on the world stage with Costa Rica, Nigeria, the US and Mexico, will need a miracle to do well with Iraq in South Africa. After the poor performance in the Gulf Cup of Nations in January, a number of the team’s stars were dropped, including two of the most highly rated players in Asia, Younis Mahmoud and Nashat Akram.
When Shenaishil took the squad to Asia for a friendly against South Korea, he took just three foreign-based professionals: Mustafa Karim who plays for the Egyptian club Ismailia and Salam Shaker and Alaa Abdul-Zahra who play in Qatar. Qatar-based Mahdi Karim and Qusay Munir were also selected for the match against South Korea, but had to withdraw because of injuries. Iraq lost 2-1 in a tight match in Suwon.
For the Confederations Cup Milutinovic has picked an experienced side with fans expecting a lot from midfielders Akram and Hawar Mulla Mohammed. The two are the country’s only European-based players and are under contract with Dutch club FC Twente and Cypriot Champions League participants Anorthosis Famagusta respectively.
Munir though, who is one of the country’s most experienced players, failed to make the squad as he did not recover from his injury in time. The squad should prove to be an excellent mix of experience and youth, and the team will be keen for success in the tournament, having been disappointed early in their attempts to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.
The Iraqi Football Association was founded in 1948, joined Fifa in 1950, and has been a member of the Asian Football Confederation since 1971. Having endured exclusion from much of world football under the regime of Saddam Hussein, and the brutal management of his son Uday, the Iraqi side nevertheless have achieved some remarkable successes — notably victory in the 1982 Asian Games, and qualification for the 1986 World Cup Finals in Mexico.
Post US-invasion, Iraq went on to reach the quarter-finals in the 2004 Asian Cup, qualify for the 2004 Olympics, and finally won the Asian Cup, beating Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final, which gave them a place in the Confederations Cup. — dpa