Abdul-Ghani Shahad is appointed as NT coach @Iraqfpg I hope everyone will be happy now that we sacked our best Iraqi coach, only to replace him with an unproven local coach. I don't believe that he will do better than Shnaishel but let's see.
It's only a rumor. Abdul Khaliq Masoud allegedly said that if they can't get a foreign coach (which would be BS - they have plenty of funding to do this), then they'll settle for a local coach. either way they will not get anybody competent, so I honestly don't care who they hire anymore. Shahad refused the job before so I don't know if he'd accept it now, and even if he does he'll be just as mindless as radhi.
Latest news is that the FA is about to appoint Dutchman Ruud Krol as head coach, he will come to Erbil on the 14th and then he will fly to Baghdad to be presented.
Official: FIFA lifted the ban on Iraq hosting international friendlies Jordan and South Korea reportedly agreed to play in Basra and Karbala next month! Within 3 months the entire ban will be lifted if it goes well.
Rumours that Yaser Kasim is back in the team for the friendly vs Jordan. What do you guys think about this? He's been very bad with Swindon this season, and we know that he was average in his last appearances for Iraq. IMO it's worth it to give him a call for the friendly at least. He does have quality but for some reason, he can't show it anymore. I think showing him some confidence may help him. If not, then we can move on.
We are building a team for the Asian Cup, and I don't mind if they experiment with some new players but Yaser is in very bad shape. His last game was 3 months ago. Since then he didn't even make the squad due to injuries and whatsoever. I think it's better to move on and call up Osama or Brwa.
I can't believe this.. It's true. Yaser Kasim is coming back and will join the NT in Basra. More and more I get the feeling he is using the NT to put himself in the shop window. I hope I'm wrong here. Source
What annoys me is that Yaser gets chance after chance, but Osama Rashid only gets 45 minutes in a closed doors friendly.
The Ministry of Youth and Sports proposes to use the Iraq - Jordan friendly in Basra as a retirement match for Younis Mahmoud. I think it's a great idea. Younis meant so much for Iraq, he deserves to end his career in the best possible way (In front of 60k fans in Basra).
One of these three coaches is going to coach the NT for the rest of the WCQs: Basim Qasim Hassan Ahmed Ayoub Odisho So was it worth it to sack Shnaishel to replace him with one of these guys? At the very least he could have finished the campaign..
We'll see in 6 months how you think about his replacement. We all know this FA is gonna bring a local coach or average foreigner, it won't get better.
I'm not being harsh because I want to be a dick toward you. I very often agree with you, on issues like Younis being too old for the NT. With that out of the way I don't think you're being objective about Radhi. The man did poorly, had extremely poor results, did not develop a squad and did not understand how to build attacks. He just failed, it's someone else's turn to have a go.
Extremely poor results against who? The top teams in Asia. Teams we haven't beaten in years. People tend to forget that we barely tied Vietnam, and almost lost to Thailand in the previous round with a complete squad!! And yes I agree Radhi made a couple of crucial mistakes but it's way too easy to put all the blame on him. I would say 70% FA and 30% coaching staff.
The top teams in Asia are currently extremely weak and beatable. Also Saudi Arabia is has far less talents in their squad than us and UAE has shit defense. Against Saudia Radhi failed, it's all on him and not the FA. They won due to their manager outsmarting ours. That's how weaker squads beat better squads.
I have said exactly this over and over and it's so true. Beating Japan 4 years ago would have been an achievement. Losing to them narrowly today is not. Australia today is not the same as the team that won the asian cup or played at the 2014 world cup. Their current team scraped a draw against thailand who we beat 4-0. When people say that we should be happy with the results, I consider that a loser's mentality and is unacceptable. That said, I don't think Basim Qasim will do anything that Radhi didn't do. He'll be the same or worse. He's a stopgap, and the FA will hire some useless foreigner who will be in their pocket. I think things would be much better for us if the Ministry of Youth & Sport could be in control of the FA, but FIFA would ban us if that happened. The problems we are facing are in large part because our FA members are not held accountable for anything.
While I think Basim is a good coach, he is at the moment coaching Al-Jawiya to try and win the League, FA Cup and AFC Cup, playing games like every 5 days. He's not going to be able to focus on the Iraq job. If they wanted a local coach for the next 3 games they could have at least gone for someone who isn't already managing a club like Abdul-Ghani Shahad. The fact that they promised a foreign coach for the past 2 months and have now given the job to an already-employed local coach is just laughable. And the foreign coach they eventually do appoint will be the cheapest, low-budget coach that has no knowledge or interest in Iraqi football that will probably be even worse than Radhi or Basim. Whether our FA is lead by Hussein Saeed, Najih Humoud or Abdul-Khaliq Masood, it's all the same, incompetent.
Habibi I'm not saying we should be happy with the results. The only thing I'm doing is pointing out the reason why things happen as they are. There is a short term reason and multiple long term reasons. It won't get any better by sacking the coach, and it will all become clear soon..
I truly, from the bottom of my heart believe that it is more difficult for a manager to screw up as badly as Radhi did. He is the man who played Ali Abbas as left back instead of Dhurgham and Ali Adnan.
Nobody is denying that Radhi made mistakes, but I swear if some results turned our way (ex. Saudi Arabia and Japan match) most people would be fan of Shnaishel. What can Radhi do about individual players like Saad Natiq who played well for most parts of the game, then started to act like an idiot and made a stupid foul? What can Radhi do about the linesman that gave Japan an offside goal? What can Radhi do if our team gets tired after 70 mins? What can he do about it that the fitness of our league players is completely shit? Try to answer these questions first before arguing.
Australia 3-2 Saudi Arabia in the World Cup qualifier earlier today. With this result, Iraq is officially eliminated.