Difficulties and struggles along the way tend to make achievements sweeter. Such was the case with the Iraqi team that made it to the FIFA World Cup after 40 years after beating Bolivia 2-1 in an intercontinental qualifier in Monterrey, Mexico.
The country has had a turbulent few decades, ravaged by war and sectarian violence. But the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, in which Iraq isn’t directly involved, also cast a big shadow on their World Cup aspirations, and it was doubtful whether the team would even reach the venue for the all-important match. Team officials had even asked FIFA to postpone the qualifier, a request that was rejected.
Consider the situation: The war in the region forced a closure of Iraqi airspace and the team had to travel by road to Jordan, reported to be a 20-hour journey.
From there, the team travelled to Lisbon, Portugal and from there to Monterrey. It needed pressure from Iraq’s Australian head coach Graham Arnold to persuade FIFA to organise a chartered flight to get to Mexico.
The Aussie was stranded in Fujairah, on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates, due to the war and only managed to meet his charges in Mexico.
Arnold, who took his home country to the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, was with his wife in a hotel in Fujairah after a series of Iranian missiles hit nearby, according to Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat. The Australian was able to move to Dubai, but was unable to join the team for several days. A scheduled training camp in Houston had to be cancelled.
“It’s been very difficult being stranded, I’d rather not talk about it, I try to remove all of that from the players’ brains because a lot of things are going on in the Middle East,” the coach said before the match against Bolivia.
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Visas were another problematic issue. Mexico doesn’t have an embassy in Iraq but its foreign affairs ministry facilitated the travel documents for the contingent from regional embassies in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“I came from Europe directly to Monterrey, but for the rest of the players who play in the Iraqi local league, they had a long trip,” Merchas Doski, who plays as a left-back for Czech club Viktoria Plzen, was quoted as saying.
It was the final step in a long and gruelling campaign for Iraq for their only other appearance at the football showpiece. Coincidentally, that came in Mexico 1986. They had to go through as many as 21 qualifying matches over four rounds before reaching the inter-confederation playoff against their South American opponents.
After the win, Arnold was hoisted on the shoulders of his players and walked around the pitch draped in an Iraqi flag.
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“I want to give credit to the players, whose work ethic and Iraqi mentality of fighting and putting their body on the line was why we won. I am so happy that we’ve made 46 million people happy. Especially with what’s going on in the Middle East at the moment, I am so happy for them,” he told FIFA+.
Iraq had to first negotiate a two-legged Asian playoff against the UAE to make it to the inter-confederation qualifier. They drew 1-1 in Abu Dhabi before prevailing 2-1 in Basra through a penalty in the 17th minute of added time by Amir Al-Ammari.
The Iraqi team, nicknamed the ‘Lions of Mesopotamia’ took the scenic route to the World Cup and were the last team to qualify. They became the ninth team from the Asian Football Confederation to get there. They will be in Group I and have a tough opener in Boston against European heavyweights Norway, likely to feature the likes of Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard. Things don’t get any easier as they next face two-time champions and last edition’s runners-up France in Philadelphia before rounding off their group engagements against Senegal in Toronto.
