im sorry but i disagree... when did he play horribly for the iraqi national team... was it when he played for the youth national team and scored 4 goals in 8 matches or was it when he played for the national team during the 2004 qualifiers for the asian when he scored 7 goals or during the olympics when he scored 3 goals giving iraq 4th place, the highest in iraqs history or did he play horribly when he scored 4 goals in the asian cup including the winning goal that gave iraq there first cup in soccer. the only time he didnt play well was during the qualifiers of the world cup but can u really blame him. he was suffering a major injury, give the guy a break Younis Mahmoud has accomplished so much for the iraqi team... a little appreciation from the iraqi fans is the least he deserves.
His accomplishments are one thing, his current form - or better his form after the Asian Cup is another thing. Younis was weak, skinny, withouth any effects. He was injured during the WCQ, but instead of taking time to recover and make space for others, he insisted on playing and wasted space for another player to take his place. The was something that weakend the team. He is, because we never gave chance to anyone else to prove himself for the NT.
You said it man... WAS weak and not IS weak... i agree that he made a mistake by playing in the WCQ while he was injured... but i dont think he did it for selfish reasons During the AFC, i think he will prove his value to the iraqi national team once again... for the WAFF all iraq needs is a tie but they should win easily... next real test for iraq is IRAN.... they'll be meeting in the AFC too so it would be interesting to see how this plays out....
The appreciations there man, im just saying hes not getting much younger and we need to develop our young strikers. Also hes never played his best on the NT stage
any1 else have a website that i could watch the game at... the site that you guys gave me keeps lagging every 3-4 secs
Iraq-Iran 0-0 first half, good match by both I thought Iran would play better with all their stars and so few from our, so i don't know if its Iran who play bad or its just we who are too good
No more Yassir Raad and Ahmed Mnajed please. They had enough chances to show that they are nothing special. Sidka should've started with Mustafa Kareem today.
I think Iraq played pretty well today given that our team was mainly young players that lacked experience. I think the problem with Iraq is their last line of defense, it collapsed so many times. Good game overall for Iraq despite a 2-1 loss.
Iran was the better team in the end. The game was pretty even for much of the second half, as Iraq did a great job applying pressure. Iraq had a number of dangerous scoring opportunities, but they barely strung any passes together the entire game... I thought they could've used their midfield a little more, but it was apparent that Sidka planned to "park the bus" and attack with quick lob outlets (which worked quite well, actually). I thought Iran did a really good job keeping calm, holding onto possession, and getting everyone involved with good one-touch passing. It's great to see some bench players finally getting comfortable with the team. Both teams were missing star players, but I thought they both put on a good display. The match was really exciting, and both teams were aggressive but not malicious. Very useful match for both teams. Best of luck to Iraq.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxYCrLUnLys"]YouTube - Iran 1- Iraq 0 (WAFF 2010)[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE4lkZX9Mxg"]YouTube - Iran 1- Iraq 1 (WAFF 2010)[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB4rc_X6n_g"]YouTube - Iran 2- Iraq 1 (WAFF 2010)[/ame]
Park the bus? did we see the same match? Anyway I liked how both team played, a really fun match to watch and yeah I can't wait till we meet again in AFC
Iraq absolutely parked the bus in the first half. Things opened up after Iran scored the first goal and Iraq felt a sense of urgency, but still, I don't recall many instances in which Iraq "built" a play/attack. Very few passing sequences. Iraq was very much playing defensively. It was clearly Sidka's strategy, and rightly so. He knew Iraq would have much more trouble beating Iran if they tried to attack relentlessly and dominate possession. Playing defensively, of course, does not imply "not attacking." As I said, Iraq did a fantastic job with counter attacks and long balls from beyond midfield. That's precisely the strategy you want to have if you think the opposition will dominate possession, and that's precisely what came close to beating Iran today.