ARGENTINA vs IRAQ 11-10-2018 20:45 Venue: King Abdullah Sports City, Jeddah Broadcast: Al Iraqiya Sports AD Sports 1 Al Kass
Iraq's XI: Justin Meram Ahmed Yasin Amjad Atwan - Bashar Rasen - Osama Rashid Ali Adnan Alaa Mahawy Ahmed Ibrahim - Mustafa Nadhim - Ali Faez Jalal Interesting choice. Ali Adnan plays his normal position as a left wingback, Osama Rashid straight into the starting XI as he deserves; both he and Attwan are strong tacklers so they should give some support to the defense. Bashar Rasen will have more creative duties. Not sure if 3 CBs will work, but it's an interesting option that lets our wingbacks join the attack more as they like to do anyways. Pretty clear from this XI that Katanec wants to keep the scoreline down as much as possible and maybe get something on the counter attack. Ahmed Yasin and Justin have a decent amount of pace and should stop Argentina from fully committing to every attack. Glad that Hameed isn't playing. Still baffled by the fact that clubs in the Iraqi league are willing to pay him to be their starting gk.
I think Attwan did pretty well. He is doing the dirty work for the team. However Nadhim and Mhawi are not good enough for the NT.