A friendly gives you an indication what you can expect from certain players. As for the mentioned players, only Dhurgham played a good amount of time. Brwa and Justin haven't played for a long time and Adnan and Faez barely made minutes with their clubs. Hopefully they can make an agreement with their clubs.
Justin has just returned from a training camp in Brazil with his club and he's playing pre season friendlies already. If he's not fit now, he will be soon. Ali Adnan is training with his team and getting more minutes than before. Getting sub appearances regularly now. He's in shape. Faez probably isn't going to be first choice for the national team anyways, he's most likely a back up in case Ahmed Ibrahim/Natiq get injured. Don't know about brwa. Again, I don't accept this as an excuse. Sure, it would have been better if he could have more friendlies over the last months, but he should have a plan and system in place by now. He knows the players, he should be watching them with their clubs and he should have a starting XI in mind already for the next games. Clubs are not required to release their clubs until 3 days before the match, so he should be planning around these rules.
I agree with you here that Radhi had enough time now to have an idea about the squad (if you noticed, he is holding on to the previous selection). But you have to keep in mind that individual mistakes costed us the points in most of the qualifiers. We should have at least 4 points from the Saudi Arabia and Japan games and I don't blame the coaching staff for it. There is nothing a coach can do if a player, playing well for most parts of the game, decides to make a mistake which changes the outcome of the game. Having said that, Radhi made some crucial mistakes, but it's something expected from a coach that works under these circumstances. And I really think the fans have been harsh on him.
Who do you guys think Radhi will put alongside Saad in midfield? I just read this article (http://www.iraqi-football.com/the-all-elusive-anchor-man) talking about our defensive frailties. Really interesting and I think and it's definitely true, look how easily our midfield was overrun in the Australia and UAE games. Our defense has been really poor in the qualifiers. I think in the Olympics, against U23 players having Saad in the midfield was enough for us defensively. But in the qualifiers it's become evident that we need another strong midfielder like the article says, not Amjad Attwan (please!!) he was terrible last few games and he needs more years to develop. I still don't know much about Brwa Nouri, but I hope he can do a job. Is he a defensive minded player? I also hope that in the future, Ali Faez might develop into a defensive midfielder.
Let me start by saying the midfield was always our weak point in recent years.... until we found Yaser Kasim. In the 2015 Asian Cup he was bossing the midfield with Saad Abdul-Amir. This was one of the reasons of our success in the Asian Cup. Now that Yaser's gone, it shows. We are back to square one. That article implies that we should scout and bring more expats to the NT. My opinion is that they expats are a short fix for our problems. We should work on making our league stronger, to keep on producing talented players. Back to the NT, If I were the coach, I would give Brwa the chance alongside Saad because there are no alternatives in this squad. One of the biggest mistakes from Radhi was to bring in Amjad Attwan in an important qualifier. If he does something stupid like that again, I will be the first one to criticize him.
Agree with a lot of that. Ever since Qusay declined, our midfield has been a problem I think. I agree that we do really miss the Yaser of 2015. Even if he comes back now, he would need to get back to his previous form because his career stagnated for 2 straight years now. I think even in the 2015 Asian Cup we still had midfield problems. Look at the Japan group game and see how easily they created chances, even Palestine created a lot of chances against us. Saad Abdul amir was originally a right midfielder and still plays there sometimes at club level, he has done well in midfield for us but he's not the type who can be a direct replacement for Qusay IMO. It would be great if we could rely on our league but expats are just a viable solution these days, I mean the likes of Yaser and Brwa who we were/are hoping to stay in the team for years have both come as a result of finding these guys playing abroad. Definitely the league needs to improve but that comes all the way from the coaching level. Better coaching is needed for the young players. If you watch the league you see a lot of the time the players are just running for the ball and have very little positional sense or tactical awareness. This is something they should be taught at a young age and is crucial for a midfield player but we don't seem to have many competent coaches in Iraq.
That's why I'm so hopeful of the new AFC Licensing system and the changes that will be made in the Iraqi league. We are basically forced to improve our league otherwise we won't even be allowed in the AFC Cup. If we manage to establish a professional league, our players will be in better shape for the NT. Our clubs will participate in the AFC Champions League, and this way our players can get used to a higher level in Asia. I'm also enthousiast about the possible lifting of the ban on home games. I doubt any team in the world will have an easy time in Iraq. It will make qualifying campaigns much easier for us. Hopefully we'll see improvements over the next qualification matches.
World Cup story https://ahdaaf.me/2017/02/28/mexico-86-iraqs-world-cup-campaign-where-luck-met-fate-part-three/ i dont think we see it repeated soon
Is this in a fifa day? If not, you basically play against an experimental collection of our league players. Some of our foreign based players might not play because of club conflicting schedule or injury 1. Ashkan Dejagah injured 2. Karim Ansarifard (16.3 EL match 19.3 GSL match) 3. Reza Gucci (19.3 Eredivisie match) 4. Alireza JB (19.3 Eredivisie match) 5. Azmoun (16.3 EL match 19.3 RPL match) 6. Milad Mohamadi (19.3 RPL match) 7. Saeed Ezatollahi (19.3 RPL match) 8. Masoud Shojai (19.3 GSL match) 9. Ali Karimi (18.3 HNL match) Also 8 players from Persepolis might not be in this friendly match. But two new players may start 1. Ryan Tafazoli Peterborough United 2. Saman Goddos Ostersunds FK
The problem in the Australia match was that the entire team was set up very negatively. He had Saad Natiq in midfield, Dhurgham as a CB, no actual striker. Everything was negative and the midfield was nonexistent. A team needs to work together fluidly. The midfield covers the defense and holds the ball so that the defenders are not under stress for 90 minutes, he striker holds up the ball and/or pressures the opposition's defenders to provide support to his midfield. It all has to work together. In our matches, none of that is happening. Saad has no support in midfield, and honestly he's not good as a playmaker. Saad is a defensive midfielder, and in the right system, he's a great one. We saw how he absorbed pressure and allowed Yaser to have space to make penetrating runs to score or create a chance. The current group of midfielders are mostly negative players who don't fit with Saad. Attwan is not good at creating chances or playmaking. More often than not, he either loses the ball cheaply, or he takes a speculative longshot. Mehdi Kamil is a useful playmaker, but he doesn't have the physical presence to work alongside Saad. He's better off as a 10. IMO our midfield would improve alot with Osama rashid slotted in beside Saad. He's strong enough defensively to offer support to the defense, he's a good playmaker, with a very good sense of when to make a run into the attack and get into goalscoring positions. I think the best midfield we can put together right now given the circumstances of Yaser, would be with Saad, Brwa and Osama Rashid. This setup means that Osama doesn't need to focus as much defensively since Brwa and Saad are strong there, and he can provide a boost to our attack with his ability to get the ball into dangerous positions. On top of our midfield issues, we lack a proper system in place for our attackers. Whenever we play it doesn't look like there is much tactics to the way our forwards play, it's every man for himself which is why I think our teams are unable to score goals often enough. The wingers dribble too much and everybody wants to be the hero. I saw that alot in our olympic team especially.
Let me start by saying the Australia game was a complete fail by the coaching staff. He basically gambled with the players and it was a disaster. We had a good midfield until Yaser let us down. It came unexpected for Shnaishel because he accepted the call-up at first, but he decided to abandon the NT. We tried out Attwan, Kamil and at the end of the day we found out that they are simply not good enough. Personally I think Osama should get a chance, but I understand the coach's logic. He said that a player who is performing well on the long term will eventually get a call up for the NT. He won't call up a player if he's having 1/2 good matches. But having Osama in the team or not, it won't change the fact that Iraqi football is not producing enough talented players for the NT. Look at the AFC Cup and how we're struggling to keep up with average teams. We have to accept that we have to rely on the expats.
Any friendly is better than no friendly, at least for us. Having said that if it is not on a FIFA day then it will benefit us as much as all those training camps where Radhi gets a squad, prepares them then he chooses a completely different set of players for whatever competition.
6 players will miss this game: Brwa, Adnan, Dhurgham, Faez, Husni and Meram. Hopefully they can earn permission to leave their club earlier to join up with the NT..
Saad Abdul Amir, Ahmed Yasin, Ahmed Ibrahim and Rebin Sulaka will be available for the Iran friendly. Still some good players left to test out.
The 27 man squad for the next games. Glad that akla wasn't called. Not sure why Gassid is constantly called. He's not going to play - it will be either Hameed or Jalal. If he wants experience he could easily bring Noor Sabri who is better than Hameed anyways and offers much more in terms of leadership than Gassid. I've said this many times, but Osama Rashid still out is insane. He needs to be in the team. He's a starter on his team already and he's playing every game. 7 goals and an assist last season and on track for similar form this season since returning to Portugal. I honestly don't know what more Radhi needs to see from him before he gives him a real chance.
27 man squad for the WCQ's @Hassaninmubarak Players dropped: Fahad Talib, Ali Abdul-Hassan, Ali Yasin, Ali Bahjat, Ali Lateef, Ahmed Abdul-Ridha, Humam Tariq, Osama Ali, Hussein Ali, Jassim Mohammed and Ali Akla. Logical choices. Now my only concern is the midfield. I hope that Brwa starts with Saad Abdul-Amir. No more Amjad Attwan please..
I don't follow the Iraqi League too much but surely there's better forwards than alaa, hammadi and mohamed jabar.
Only Ayman Hussein and Bassim Ali scored more goals than Alaa, Hammadi and Shokan. Ayman is injured, and Bassim Ali has 0 caps (will probably be called up sooner or later if he keeps his form).
I'm also glad that Akla is left out. As for Gassid, he is keeping for one of the top clubs in Iraq, and active in the AFC Cup, and one of the experienced players so I don't mind him being called up as third GK. I have to agree with you here. It's mind boggling how we have Amjad Attwan in the team and no Osama. However I'm sure he will find his way in the NT if he keeps this form with his club.
How is Abdul Qadir Tariq doing? There was a decent amount of hype around him. Has he been injured? Or just having a quiet season?
He scored 2 goals on sunday against Al-Bahri, but yes he is having a quiet season and injuries kept him out for a while. I believe Radhi has him in sight, but he has to step up and be more consistent to be considered for the NT.
I can't ********ing believe this. Justin Meram will miss the WCQ's against Australia and Saudi Arabia due to the tensions between the USA and Iran.
Assuming you were trying to show the SoccerIraq tweet about Meram not playing against Australia and Saudi Arabia......
Whoever made the decision to let us play in Iran should be fired immediately. I don't understand this. He can travel as Iraqi citizen, why all this drama? What a mess this campaign has been..
Is the Saudi game played in Iran as well? I thought it was played in Saudi Arabia. This is terrible news for us. Let's wait for a bit more information to come out before we start attaching blame though. I don't really get why him playing a football match in Iran should be a problem...