I'm happy that Ahmad Abdul-Ridha has been included, he's been very impressive for Jawiya. It's also great to see Hussein Ali from Zawraa included, he's one of the most promising young players in Iraq imo. The constant inclusion of Jassim Mohammed baffles me though. He's 32 and barely scores in the Iraqi league. Why not give Emad Mehsen the opportunity? Ali Faez and Osama Rashid definitely deserve to be in a 37 man squad too. And I would have liked to see defenders like Karrar Mohammed and Abbas Qasim ahead of Ali Bahjat and Hussam Kadhim. Nice to see Amjad Kalaf return because he's on good form but I'm pretty sure he will be left out of the 23 man squad.
Maybe I reacted too soon, but I just don't understand how an amateur player can get into the NT, while we have Ali Faez and Osama Rashid left out (especially now with this squad where we lack a reliable CB and CM) I'm happy to see Jalal, Hussein Ali and Ali Husni back though. This is an improvement on the previous squad. Now hopefully we'll make something good out of it.
Jassim Mohammed is only in the team to spite Younis. Radhi's only achievement as the coach is getting Younis out no matter how much the team has suffered because of it. Radhi has proven to be a very petty man. There is no defending Radhi's call ups this time. Of the strikers he has called, they are all target men. None of them are the types to contribute to overall play and create chances for themselves which would have been fine if Radhi had brought in the creative midfielders to serve the strikers. The only competent midfielders he has called are Saad Abdul Amir and Brwa Nouri and they don't even fit together in the midfield because they are both defensive players. The team has no useful playmaker other than Mahdi Kamil and he's not nearly enough. Truly mind blowing how Radhi seems to hate Osama Rashid. This is a guy who dominated last season in Portugal. He can score goals, make assists, anything you'd want from a playmaker, but Radhi calls some no name from the dutch amateur league instead. The only creative players in the squad are the wingers; namely Ahmed Yasin, Ali Husni and Justin. As for defense the only dependable one is Ahmed Ibrahim. The rest of his centre backs are useless. Fullbacks are good, but we have so many good ones that it would take a true moron to screw that up. For the goalkeepers I don't know why he keeps calling Kassid if he doesn't even play him. We all know he's going to play Hameed. Pretty obvious how the team will play in the qualifiers. He'll play defensively hoping to scrape draws. The midfield will not create anything and act as the first line of defense and the defenders will constantly clear the ball to the wingers and striker who will be isolated and lose the ball. If the Australians are able to finish the many chances they will create, we will probably lose 4-0 at least.
I was thinking.. why don't we try out Ali Husni as playmaker? With Justin and Yasin on the wings, could work out well. Radhi doesn't hate Osama. He gave him multiple chances in the Asian Cup and most recently in the training camp against Qatar, but he didn't perform well and was dropped. What happened after? Osama moved to Bulgaria and had a bad season with them, completely out of form. He moved to Portugal now, but he still has to prove himself. Players are selected on current form. Reality is that this is what we have to work with. Name me a better centre back in the league. Natiq and Nadhim is what we invested in during the U23 Championship and Olympics. Gassid is there because of his leadership and experience. I think Jalal will play instead of Hameed (as he was injured for 3 months). Don't be so pessimistic. We performed above expectations in these qualifiers. Who would've thought this team would make life hard for Saudi Arabia and Japan? The same team that couldn't beat Vietnam and Thailand in the previous round.
If players were called on current form, Jassim Mohammed wouldn't be in the team. Osama has not had a real chance. 45 minutes against qatar behind closed doors is not a real chance. It's been 2 years since the asian cup. In two years, Osama has had only 45 minutes in the national team. If call ups were based on fairness, Ali Akla wouldn't be anywhere near the team. For defense we need to go with ali faez. Isn't radhi building for the future? Then why doesn't he ever use our young and talented centerback? It doesnt' matter that he isn't playing much for his team. These qualifiers are over and Ali Faez needs experience. Ali Faez's exclusion is further evidence that Rahdi isn't actually building a team for the future as he says, and instead, he simply doesn't know what he's doing. I'm sorry, but we are not indonesia or the philippines. What state are we in that it's an achievement that we made life hard for saudi arabia of all teams? You are being more pessimistic than me if your standards have fallen so low. We are better than this.
I don't know how Jassim Mohammed is doing in the league, so I can't talk about that. Only thing I know is that he is playing with the NT since the summer, and he played good when he had his appearances, so maybe he is a good addition to the NT. It's not like we have so many alternatives, so let him make the preliminary squad, if he's not good enough he won't make the cut anyway. Shnaishel said that if a player is performing well for a long period, he will eventually be called up. So Osama has to get into form (he is on the bench at Santa Clara now). I have to agree with you on this. Ridiculous and an insult to our NT that an amateur player is called up. He played a few matches for the Olympic team as well. I think Ali Faez is good enough for the NT, at least to be on the bench, but I understand Radhi's logic here. Faez is not even making the bench for Rizespor's league games. He needs to get more playing time with Rizespor. Let's turn this question around: What state are we in to demand high standards? Our FA is a cancer to Iraqi football, we don't get proper friendlies, there are no proper facilities, no home venue, and nothing has been done to support our NT. I don't know why we have high expectations. Based on what? That we were Asian champions 10 years ago? Iraq is ranked 122, 14th of Asia!! And this is due to the results of the past 4 years. So there is absolutely no reason to expect our NT to qualify or even make the playoffs. We are lagging behind, and with this federation I can't see positive changes. We have to accept that we are a team that can surprise once in a while, but we will not become a powerhouse until we get a solid foundation.
I'm saying we should expect more from Radhi and the FA. You say Radhi doesn't deserve criticism because he has little to work with. I say he has plenty of tools, but he doesn't know what to do with them. There is no way in hell that the Saudis or Emiratis have better players than us, yet we couldn't beat them. Radhi has had so many training camps, he's had more support than past coaches from the FA members who stood behind him despite the disgraceful results, and they gave him training camps and friendlies often. We have talent in the squad. Both our leftbacks are arguably the best in Asia. We have a great CB in Ahmed Ibrahim, one of the best central midfielders in asia in Saad Abdul Amir, we have one of MLS's most productive wingers in Justin Meram, a skilled winger in Ahmed Yasin, a talented up coming winger in Ali Husni, Muhannad scores goals everywhere he goes, Alaa Mahawy had Neymar in his pocket last august and Osama Rashid was dominant in portugal last season. The biggest weaknesses in the team is goalkeeper and a better CB to pair with A. Ibrahim. Most of our players are capable of alot more than we have seen. We know they are better than this. We seen them play much better in the past. The fact is that the team has been playing well below it's potential for two years now, and under Radhi, things have gotten worse. He has removed all leadership figures in the team and his tactical ineptitude is costing the team dearly. On top of this, his excuse that he's building a team is empty. He's not building a new team at all. Almost all the players he has been relying on have been with the team for years now. How many players has he brought up in the team? Have we seen any improvement since he was hired last summer?
I never said Radhi doesn't deserve criticism. If he leaves a good player out I will be the first one to criticize. Which tools? Radhi doesn't get support, he is brought in 4 months before the qualifiers in a tough environment. Based on what? They have better leagues, better youth development, and the chemistry between their players is higher. How many training camps and friendlies did he have with the FULL team? He had a shitty domestic team where most of the players didn't even play a role in the qualifiers. Nobody is saying we don't have talented players, but the team isn't finished yet. We miss players on key positions, they lack experience, and their form is too unstable. That is what an amateur league is doing to our NT. Two years? Ask yourself when was the last time we beat a top Asian team? We went downhill after 2008, with some surprises here and then (ex. 2015 Asian Cup) What he did is replacing veterans like Younis or Salam and slowly bringing in young promising players. An huge part of this team played in the Olympics. If you wanna bash Radhi for playing Hameed or Natiq, ask yourself who brought him in the Olympic squad. A coach can't just disband a whole team within the qualifiers. When he made the choice to start certain players, he can better hold on to them rather than gambling.
We've had this argument many times. We won't convince each other. At the end, we all want Iraq to succeed. I'll wait for these next games, but I think we'll just see more of the same from the previous games. I hope I'm wrong.
According IraqFPG the FIFA representatives who will examine our stadiums have already arrived in Arbil. They'll look at the stadiums in Arbil, Basra and Karbala.
Yes, I've heard it. Good news. If everything goes according to plan, FIFA will decide at the next meeting in May if they will lift the ban (partially).
Latest news: Delegation finished their visit to Basra Sports City, and according to Iraqfpg Basra will host friendly international games soon!!
Latest news: Iraq will play Jordan on 2 June in Amman @Iraqfpg Ali Faez is added to the preliminary NT squad for the WCQ's
Reports that the following players will miss the friendly due to league matches. They will arrive on 20/3 Brwa Nouri Ali Adnan Dhurgham Ismail Ali Faez Justin Meram Disappointing news. We need the complete group available so the coach can decide his best 11. Now he has to gamble and take a risk with those players (and everyone will start bashing the coach in case it goes wrong).
This is normal for any team and as the coach, he needs to be able to adapt. I don't consider this a valid excuse. He knows these players and what they can offer him. One friendly doesn't change much.