وكان آل الشيخ رفقة الاستاذ عادل عزت رئيس الإتحاد السعودي لكرة القدم قد وقعا إتفاقاً مع رابطة الدوري الإسباني تنص أحد بنوده على تسريع عملية نقل اللاعبين السعوديين إلى أندية الدوري الأسباني (لا ليجا) إبتداء من يناير المقبل. وفي إطار هذه الإتفاقية، سيحضر كشافون من عدة أندية إسبانية إلى المملكة لحضور بعض مباريات الدوري السعودي و مشاهدة اللاعبين المرشحين للإنضمام لأنديتهم عن كثب.

وقد علمت مصادرنا أن قائمة تضم اللاعبين المرشحين للإعارة قد تم تحضيرها و أن المفاوضات مع عدد من الأندية و روابط الدوريات الأوروبية بهذا الخصوص قد انطلقت منذ شهر سبتمبر. و تحدثت بعض التقارير عن أن لاعب الإتحاد فهد المولد هو أول اللاعبين الذين تم الإتفاق على إعارتهم لأحد الأندية الإسبانية.

في ذات السياق، تواجد كشافون من نادي تورينو الإيطالي في ملعب مدينة الملك عبد الله بجدة لمشاهدة مدافع الأهلي معتز هوساوي في لقاء الديربي الذي انتهى بفوز فريقه على غريمه الإتحاد بثلاثة أهداف نظيفة مساء أمس.

آل الشيخ أثناء توقيع الاتفاقية مع ممثل لا ليجا ادولفو بارا

ومن الجدير بالذكر أن الإتحاد السعودي و هيئة الرياضة يسعيان إلى إعارة اللاعبين إلى فرق الوسط في الدوري الإسباني والإيطالي، بينما أبديا -وفقاً لمصادرنا- استعداداً للتفاوض مع أندية أوروبية أخرى.

ومن المتوقع أن يتواجد عدد من كشافي الأندية الأوروبية في مدينية ليريا البرتغالية لحضور لقاء الأخضر الودي ضد البرتغال في العاشر من نوفمبر لتقييم بعض اللاعبين.

تعتبر هذه الخطوة مشروعاً جديداً تقوده الهيئة العامة الرياضة والتي أحدثت تغييرات جذرية على كرة القدم السعودية منذ تولي معالي تركي آل الشيخ رئاستها، شملت هذها لتغييرات إنشاء لجنة لاستكشاف المواهب بالإضافة للإستعانة بخدمات مواليد المملكة بقيادة لاعب نادي تشيلسي الانجليزي السابق مختار علي الذي تم ضمه للمنتخب السعودي مؤخراً.

Qatar’s 3-2 win over South Korea on Tuesday night was a massive result for many reasons. For one thing, it was a big step up from what had been a series of dismal performances throughout the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. Even though there was a feeling of too-little-too-late, the result kept alive Qatar’s faint hopes of finishing in the third place playoff spot.

However, none of that seemed to matter for the team or the fans. The match was an emotionally charged affair for a completely different reason. The ongoing crisis in the Gulf, between Qatar and its neighbours, meant that the match would always be played under its shadow. One week on since the crisis broke, there was no bigger issue on people’s minds. This was why the players had worn t-shirts with the Emir’s face on it during pre-match warmup. This was also why Afif and Al-Haydos celebrated their goals with salutes. It was a show of loyalty and love for the nation at a time when the nation seemed to need it the most.

And then, all of a sudden, came the news that Qatar’s coach Jorge Fossati had resigned.

At the post-match press conference, the Uruguayan coach expressed his decision to quit, leading to reactions of shock and surprise from all quarters.

What the hell? https://t.co/oIupj5xoZS

— SandalsForGoalposts (@Sandal4Goalpost) June 13, 2017

The reaction from our friends at SandalsForGoalposts was not very different from that of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) president Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al-Thani. In an official statement put out on Twitter, he said that he was “taken by surprise by Fossati’s decision” and that Qatar U23 coach Felix Sanchez would succeed him if the QFA failed to convince Fossati to stay on.

That brought up the question – was this really a surprise? In the past, the resignation (or more often than not, sacking!) of the national team manager would be followed a period of uncertainty before the QFA finally named the successor. In this case, however, the name of the successor was ready within hours.

What is even more interesting is that Fossati’s resignation had been mooted in the local media weeks before the match against South Korea. If those reports were true, then Fossati had already informed QFA of his decision well in advance, giving them time to decide on his replacement. The names of Sanchez, former Qatar boss Djamel Belmadi and also Al-Sadd’s 70-year old manager Jesualdo Ferreira had done the rounds.

Back when those reports first appeared, it was relatively less surprising because very few people actually expected Qatar to win against South Korea. The Maroon campaign had been written off long before that, after the 0-1 home defeat against Iran in March, to be particular. After that match, a video of a young Qatari fan ranting to a BeIN Sports camera against the naturalised players on the team and their apparent “lack of spirit” went viral on the internet. This is a crucial point to be noted – but more on that later.

“I had big expectations for today’s result, really I am very sad,” Fossati had remarked after that game. He should have expected the backlash from fans and the media. If he had resigned then and there, people would have accepted it without thinking twice. After all, Alex Fergusons are rare in the Middle East. A coach’s job is not known for its job security or longevity. Why would this be any different?

Fossati himself had, in fact, threatened to resign less than two months after he taken up the job. After a particularly dispiriting show in a 0-0 draw in China, criticism had rained down on the naturalised players.

Talk on the street back then had been that QFA had lost all hope in its naturalised players getting them to the 2018 World Cup. And so, the authorities were planning on putting an end to it and focusing instead on the development of a homegrown team for the 2022 edition at home.

When talk of this reached Fossati, he rejected the idea flat out.

In an interview with Doha Stadium Plus, he said: “I heard about a plan to exclude naturalised players and bring in more young Qatari players into the national team. It (discouraging naturalisation) is one point I don’t agree at this stage. I believe the rules in football are made by FIFA. In my opinion, all players who’re naturalised after fulfilling the world governing body’s norms should be treated on par with true Qatari players.”

Fossati was outspoken in his support for naturalisation in Qatar. “France became the world champions with many naturalised players. Germany too. They’re big countries. You just look at Qatar’s population. If Spain can naturalise Diego Costa, Qatar can have 30 of them,” he told Doha Stadium Plus.

This was expected from Fossati. He has always been a supporter of naturalisation. Iraqi fans will remember Fossati’s previous stint as Qatar coach in 2008 when he presided over the inclusion of multiple new naturalised players in the Qatar national team. These included Brazilian-born players Emerson (forever known as Emerson Sheik in his home country!) and Fabio Cesar who helped Qatar to a 2-0 defeat over Iraq. The match turned into a controversy when it was proven that Emerson was ineligible. Iraq appealed but even though Emerson was suspended, Qatar were given a reprieve.

This time around, Fossati pointed to the eligibility and desire of all his players to appear for Qatar, as per FIFA rules.

“There isn’t a single player in our team who’s playing out of obligation. They’re there because they want to be there. And all of them are well within FIFA rules. This is the only thing we need to think of,”  he added.

And then, he slipped in a comment. A bombshell.

“If the federation wants to go another way, I’ll respect its decision 100 per cent. And it’ll be better for the Qatar national team to have another coach who supports that view.”

This writer had imagined the possibilities of Fossati leaving his post back then in protest at the QFA’s reported plans. However, it turned out that QFA agreed with the Uruguayan’s assertion that Qatar could still qualify for Russia and that naturalised players were key to it.

But that was in November 2016. Then came March 2017 and the two devastating 0-1 defeats to Iran and Uzbekistan, in the space of five days. Qualification was a bygone dream.

This is where the young Qatari’s rant against naturalisation becomes relevant. And this is where the jigsaw puzzle seems to fall into place. The question on many lips was this: Why should the team persist with these naturalised players even now, after all hope is lost? Isn’t it better to play with the U23 team from now on? Yours truly agreed.

I've said this before & I repeat it again, pls @QFA, forget about 2018! Play with the U23 team for the remaining matches.

— Ahmed Hashim (@AhmedH_93) March 24, 2017

What then about Fossati? I must admit I felt sad for him. Here was a man who had done so much for Qatari football, set to leave the national team job (for the second time too) in disappointment.

As far as Fossati himself was concerned, he had decided enough was enough. None of his plans had worked out. The team kept losing focus and making the same mistakes over and over again. Luck too, didn’t seem to be on his side. He watched his men hit the crossbar and fail to score sitters while also conceding soft goals. The refereeing, Fossati claimed, had also contributed in killing off Qatar’s chances of qualification. And so, reports started to emerge that Fossati would resign after the match against South Korea. Cue rumours of his replacements.

However, without any official confirmation, the rumours remained rumours.

When Tuesday, the 13th of June finally came around, the situation had changed in Qatar. Everything else took a backseat as Saudi Arabia and the UAE led a group of Arab nations in cutting all ties with Qatar a week prior to that. Footballing rumours like who would take up the Qatar job were pushed aside as everyone had to deal with rumours of a different kind. Was BeIN Sports taken off air in Saudi Arabia and the UAE? Were Barcelona shirts with the Qatar Airways name banned? Would Qatar lose the rights to host the 2022 World Cup?

Qatar finally looked like a ‘national team’ on Tuesday night, bolstered by what seemed to be their reaction to the blockade on the country

For the players, however, the match was a way of expressing their emotions loud and clear. After a long series of games fraught with a lack of team spirit and desire to win, evoking despair in its fans, Qatar suddenly took on a new robe against South Korea. It seemed that it took a political crisis to finally kick the team into action. Even with an assortment of nationalities in its squad, Qatar finally looked like a team. Fossati (according to local newspaper Estad Al Doha) said:

“The players have shown their commitment to and love for the Qatari team despite their different nationalities.”

In that context, voices in the media and among fans on Twitter have pointed to the blockade on Qatar proving to be a unifier and motivating factor – a blessing in disguise. One tweep even said: “If only the blockade had started at the beginning (of the qualifying campaign), Qatar would have reached Russia!”

And then, amidst all the delight and celebration, Fossati quietly settled into his seat at the post-match presser and reminded everyone of something they had all forgotten – his resignation.

Why he proceeded with his promise, we might never know. He never made his reasons clear, apart from stating unequivocally that his resignation had nothing to do with the political crisis and that everyone knew of his plans weeks before it. He seems to have made up his mind long ago; even this new ray of hope of qualification won’t change it.

Why are we all surprised then? It undoubtedly comes back to the performance and the emotions we saw on Tuesday night. For a moment, a Qatari fan may have looked away from the mathematical permutations and combinations and thought: “Maybe we can do this.” ‘Doing this’ requires them to win both their remaining games against Syria (away) and China (home) while they would need Uzbekistan to lose their matches against South Korea and Iran. Even then, what is at stake is a playoff spot, four matches away from actual qualification to the World Cup.

Yet, everyone was allowed to dream on this particular night. That dream curiously also had Fossati on board, at least to some Qataris and many other neutral non-Qataris, who thought this was the moment to consolidate the ranks and give the Uruguyan free rein for one last push. Fossati’s clear desire to resign now means that QFA need to quickly move on with their contingency plan to replace him with Sanchez.

So who is Felix Sanchez Bas? The Spaniard was a youth team coach at Barcelona before moving to Qatar’s Aspire Academy, where he oversaw the rise of a golden generation of homegrown talents, who won the AFC U19 Championship, finally made a Qatari reappearance at the FIFA U20 World Cup and finished fourth at the AFC U23 Championship. Stepping up at each youth level as coach of these young stars, Sanchez now looks set to take over the senior national team.

The question now if Sanchez takes over is: what will be his strategy? (A) Will he bring over his golden generation? Or (B) will he continue with naturalization?

Before the 13th of June, the overwhelming majority would have answered ‘A’. His wards, all of who were homegrown, have, in the eyes of the public, demonstrated “national spirit” with their exploits. They would have been welcome to replace their seniors without as much as a second thought.

But now? After downing the Koreans, I’m sure that opinions won’t be as straightforward and easy to state. There will be those who will support retaining the naturalised players, just as Fossati had envisaged.

That takes us to the title of this article: how does it all come together? I feel that the Gulf crisis has given the Qatar national team an unexpected fillip, turning the situation around for Fossati and the QFA and raising important questions about the future course of action for the naturalisation strategy. Because the political talk refuses to go away, even Fossati’s decision to resign was linked to it by some. Although he rejected those insinuations, he has to admit that it was the crisis that changed things for Qatar, and possibly, for his job prospects too. As for naturalisation, the ongoing onslaught on Qatar from Saudi media also featured disparaging reports on the QFA’s naturalisation strategy. That is nothing new; it has always been a source of embarrassment. In fact, it was at the height of the embarrassment back in November that QFA reportedly considered scrapping the whole strategy, prompting the aforementioned furious response from Fossati.

Yet, from all the time I have spent following football in Qatar, there is one thing I have noticed about the popular reactions to naturalisation. Locals only get irked when the naturalised players do not perform as well as expected or show a “lack of spirit”. At all other times, most voices have generally found no reason to reject “good” naturalised players. The distinction between the “good” and the “uninspiring” may be very vague but this is how things stand. If this same team had been overachieving, I don’t think that ranting Qatari kid would have become an internet sensation.

Then again, all those questions are only worth discussing IF Fossati does leave. Ahdaaf‘s man on the ground in Qatar, Jilbin Sam George, believes that he can still be tempted into staying, at least until the 2019 Asian Cup. BeIN Sports reported that Fossati made a cryptic comment saying he would be willing to help the national team in any capacity if asked.

“I love Qatar, I want the best for Qatar.”

Estad Al Doha  soon reported that Fossati was interested in staying on in Qatar, taking on the managerial job at newly-promoted QSL side Qatar SC while continuing as the national team coach.

Confusing much? To be honest, you can never know anything for sure here. This is Qatar. This is football. Expect the unexpected. One thing is more or less certain. If the QFA does coax Fossati into staying, then the infusion of the golden generation will have to wait. Naturalisation will continue to reign supreme.

Reminder:

Qatar travel to Tehran to face Iran, while Uzbekistan meet the relatively unknown prospect of Syria. Iraq and the UAE face tough nations in Australia and Japan respectively, meanwhile Saudi Arabia have the easiest opponent in Thailand. 

QATAR: We are ready [for Iran]

A tough match for Qatar, but the players are more than confident in getting the 3 points in Tehran. Expectations are relatively high after a near-perfect second round qualification but it’s very premature to claim that a win against Iran between their fans will be an easy feat. Qatar will have to be at their absolute best to gain a point, but Qatar’s level against the bigger sides has been a bit of a wildcard since the 2015 Asian Cup.

CARLOS QUEIROZ, IRAN: Qatar’s efforts should be appreciated

Queiroz has said “Qatar have brought the World Cup to Asia so their efforts should be appreciated. Not only do they deserve our respect, but their investments and works off the pitch to bring WC to Asia should be appreciated”.

Meanwhile Andranik Teymourian in his press conference asked the fans to come to the game tomorrow, especially because the game is free for public to attend. From the outset this already seems like Iran have taken a much more respectful approach against Qatar, where everyone are looking for 3 simple points. Surely this game will be good, but tough for both sides.

AHMED KHALIL, UAE: We came to win

The UAE’s “win” against Japan at the Asian Cup in 2015 will go down as one of the greatest nights in Emirati football history. Holding out until penalties was no mean feat but the team are expected to do so again. Japan are no longer under now-UAE Pro League’s Al-Wahda manager Javier Aguirre, but the man behind Algeria’s successful run at the 2014 World Cup: Vahid Halilhodzic. Especially after the UAE’s up and down performance levels with Mahdi Ali recently, one will wonder if the UAE can engineer a challenge on Japan soil or crumble under the pressure.

SYRIA: Yes, we can

It has been quite a shock to see Syria here, in this round. They are aiming for a play-off spot and the fans from all around the world are with them. They’ve gone out with the English saying of “Yes, we can”. Still without arguably the best striker in the Middle East Omar Al-Soma, the Syrians have now forgotten about the player and are firm believers in the team they have and will support them “Qalban wa qaliban”, as the saying goes in Arabic.

YEHIA AL-SHEHRI, SAUDI ARABIA: Our aim is 3 points

Saudi Arabia have the easiest opposition out of the Middle Eastern teams, it goes without saying. Their record against Thailand is also pretty good over the years and at home they are expected to take 3 points if they want to repeat the feats of 1994, 2002 and 2006 in qualifying for the World Cup. They’ve got the best opposition they could ask for and any points dropped will result in alarm bells around Saudi football. 

IRAQ: “MEDIA SILENCE” FOR PLAYERS

Ahead of their match against Australia, Radhi Shnaishel has forbidden the players to speak to the media. This is in a bid to keep the players focused on the technical and tactical aspects for the match rather than spend time fighting over unnecessary matters. Iraq qualified for this round after initially struggling but will want to do their usual thing in surprising the rest of the nations left in the qualifying rounds. Can Shnaishel engineer a shock start to their campaign as he did with their fascinating Asian Cup run in 2015?

The resolute and defiant Iraqi coach Abdul-Ghani Shahad returning from his one match touchline ban was the Emperor directing his army on by the sidelines against the youthful Brazilian team – a talented group of fledgling and some day world-class individuals – but, a splintered team at present– and what was plain and so easy to see for every one of the 65,829 spectators at the stadium, was a Brazilian team that was so clearly lacking a true leader.

Neymar Jr. – the superstar of the Camp Nou – has shouldered much of the burden of the nation’s footballing hopes – post-Mineiraço – the 7-1 World Cup semi-final defeat at the hands of the Germans in Belo Horizonte two summers ago – but the captain’s armband has weighed heavy on the forward. Iraq on the other hand, led by the often unsung hero Saad Abdul-Amir, bursting forward through the centre of the park, and the midfielder revelled in the buffeting and tussling that went on, throughout the game.

Iraq came as visitors to the Estádio Mané Garrincha and when the 65,829 strong Brazilian following – started to sing the Hino Nacional Brasileiro, it must have brought a shudder into the hearts of the Iraqi team, however luckily, they were only up against 11 Brazilian players and not the spirited and vocal crowd whose singing of the Brazilian national anthem made the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

As he had done in the opening game against Denmark, Iraq’s Abdul-Ghani Shahad sprang a surprise by naming a back-four and sacrificing an extra attacker Ali Husni – absent for most parts of Iraq’s first match – for a holding midfielder in the shape of Saad Natiq – the role he had been accustomed to play during his early days at Al-Najaf.

Shahad also preferred the taller Mohanad Abdul-Rahim ahead of Hamadi Ahmed in attack and the striker almost scored with a header that hit the crossbar from a long throw from Dhargham Ismail, another one of Iraq’s stand-outs on Sunday night or Monday morning if you were watching the game in Iraq. Iraq’s youngest player Amjad Atwan went close with a long range shot and eptimised the work-ethic of Shahad’s team, battling throughout and never giving up.

And we cannot forget the reincarnated goalkeeper Mohammed Hamed – yes, he did roll around and feign injury in attempts to time waste, though the Romanian referee more than compensated the home team for time Iraq’s keeper had dragged out. However saying that, Iraq’s goalkeeper – perceived as the Under-23’s second choice in goal – looked composed and for a player who has played little football over the past twelve months, Mohammed is now earning rave-reviews for his performances at the Olympics.

Midfielder turned full back Humam Tariq selected in the first game, dropped to the bench and in his place came Alaa Mahawi, the player given the unnerving task to mark the talisman Neymar – however the full back whose defensive frailties had been questioned –  even by his coach – prior to the Games , gave the Barça man little respect on the turf, constantly at his heels, the boy from Zawraa became the Brazilian captain’s nemesis – Alaa obviously a Madridi and not a Barça fan – irritated the Brazilian No.10 in his challenges at times, fouling him and catching him late in others.

Iraqi artist Ibrahim Salah Hindi mocked up a caricature of Alaa imprisoning Neymar – the right back – as all the world could see – had clearly frustrated the golden boy, maybe not had him completely in his back pocket, but thwarted him to unnerving depths and infuriated him to the level that it nullified his true effectiveness.

No one had given Iraq much hope before the game, just like the South Africans who gained a praiseworthy and commendable point against the hosts in their opening game. But Iraq’s dogged determination, the gheera factor that Iraqi fans speak so much about, was there in full view.

At the final whistle, the local brasileiro fans were chanting ‘Iraque, Iraque, Iraque’ and gave the opposing players a rousing round of applause, they knew and had seen how hard they had fought. The point from the game keeps Iraq’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages well and truly alive. And this is how the Iraqis do it, always against adversity and hardships, as in 2004 Olympics when Adnan Hamad’s team beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, this time, Abdul-Ghani Shahad and his boys had humbled Neymar and Brazil.

Every one of Iraq’s team played their part from the kit-man to the goalkeeper, to the team physio, Iraq a team unable to play home matches, fighting terrorism for many years within their borders, daily car bombings, and kidnappings, were unfazed by pre-tournament worries over the ZIKA virus, Neymar or the daily crime and violence in Brazil. Unnerved Iraq have come to Rio to make a statement.

Brazil is a home away from home for the Iraqi players, born under Saddam’s dictatorial regime, living through the UN sanctions, War against the Coalition of the Willing and the post-2003 chaos of their nation in its aftermath, football comes easier than life. Brazil may have taught Iraqi footballers a lesson in their two previous meetings at U-20 and senior level, but this time, Iraq taught them something else. At the end, the Iraqi players reassuringly patted the disenchanted Neymar on his back, “don’t worry” they must have told him “You may have been frustrated for 90 +7 minutes, we have felt that our whole lives. Raise your head, you’re an Iraqi.”

Iraq the nation which barely gets any respect or mention on the world football map, who apparently are making their second appearance at a football tournament at the Olympics according to one football commentator (correction Iraq has actually qualified on five occasions), the “not-so-great footballing nation” says BBC Sport and Brazil’s Goal.com who claimed prior to the start of the competition that Iraq were the weakest team in Group A, have been made to eat their words. But the Iraqis don’t need to talk, they let the football do that for them. Obrigado Brasil but they, the Iraqis, move on and try to complete the mission by beating South Africa in their final group game. Aish Al-Irak. Eu ♥ Iraque

Not to anyway blemish or lessen the achievements of this remarkable post-war Iraq team, understanding the above does, however, put into context how Adnan Hamad’s ‘Under 23’ team was able to compete with some of the world’s finest U-23 teams featuring would-be stars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Andrea Pirlo while Iraq’s players were in their mid to late twenties! Hamad had achieved the same results with the exact same formula four years earlier at the 2000 AFC Asian Youth Championship in Tehran where only two of his 20-man squad were in reality within that age group while the rest had their dates of birth manipulated.

Iraq’s herculean efforts in Greece were lauded, rightly so, even by neo-cons in the White House with then President George W.Bush declaring – to the detest of the Iraqi players and staff – that he would attend the final if Iraq reached it. Ironically this was all made possible by a culture of age-fraud in Iraqi youth football overseen in the era of the ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime. Players are not the sole culprits of this corruption but the dishonest environment so prevalent in the Iraqi game is also largely to blame. Shahad’s men will look to emulate the heroics of the 2004 side and this Iraqi Olympic team will be the future of the Lions of Mesopotamia for the next few years. But is their formula to success a bit different this time? Here we preview the 18 players vying to bring Iraq a medal from the faraway land of football.

1 – Fahad Talib (1994, age 21) – The man who displaced Nour Sabri as Air Force FC’s No.1 keeper has been Abdul-Ghani Shahad’s preferred first choice with the Olympic team from the first day he took charge; Talib started all but one of Iraq’s ten Olympic qualifying campaign matches, cementing his status as the team’s first choice goalkeeper in Rio ahead of the more experienced Mohammed Hamed. However, Talib’s form with his club in the final Elite Stage of the Iraqi league was shaky to say the least. The 21 years old has never played for any shaabiya team, but went straight into the Al Quwa Al-Jawiya’s youth system in his early teens and broke into the first team aged just 16 in 2011-12. Fahad followed in his father Talib Rahim and elder brother Ali’s footsteps when he joined the Blue Falcons. Growing up he would sit on the sidelines listening attentively to his father’s advice to Ali. Fahad was supervised by the goalkeeping coach Hashim Khamis, the ex-Iraq and Al-Jawiya goalkeeper, maintaining that the man the Al-Jawiya supporters know as Al-Tayara (“The Airplane”) had been instrumental in his development, with the Jawiya faithful granting the old nickname of his mentor to their new keeper. At the start of 2014-2015 season Fahad was regarded as the club’s third choice keeper behind Nour Sabri and Mohanad Qasim but the club’s coach at the time, Nadhim Shaker, gave him his chance and he made the no.1 spot his. A good showing at the Olympics could see Fahad Talib handed his international debut by Radhi Shanaishel in the near future and with opponents as strong as Brazil and Denmark, Talib is sure to be tested more than a few times in Rio.

2 Ahmed Ibrahim – (1992, age 24) – Iraq’s vice captain is so highly rated by his manager that he is set to beone of Iraq’s main players in Brazil despite not being contracted to any club since January. Ibrahim was released by UAE’s Al-Dhafra in the January transfer window and as a result has only played 637 minutes in eight matches in the whole of 2016 so far. Shahad has slowly eased Ahmed into the team after over six months away from competitive football and the recent retirements of aging national team defenders Salam Shaker and Ali Rahema means the man from the Mosul province is now considered the bedrock of Iraq’s national defence for the next few years and is one of the first names on the Iraq team-sheet. Ahmed Ibrahim Khalaf Al-Khafaji was born in Al-Qayyarah in Nineveh Province, some 75km south of the city of Mosul. An area recently liberated by Iraqi forces from Da’ish (ISIS) fighters was where Ahmed starred for his local team Al-Qayyarah SC playing in defence and sometimes in midfield and was paid a handsome fee to turn out for the side. With no top division club in his home province, Ahmed moved to Al-Sharqat where he started his top flight career before he was signed by Salah-Al-Deen and then Arbil, a move which opened the door for his international debut in 2010. Only two years after playing local football in Al-Qayyarah, Ahmed was lining up as a starter for the Iraqi national team against India in Sharjah and went onto be named in the 2011 Asian Cup squad. With 53 international appearances under his belt, Ahmed, one of the three overage inclusions, is a senior member of the squad and a future Iraq captain in the making. The Iraqi coach has experimented with playing the commanding defender on the left of a three man defence whereas he usually plays at the heart of the defence. This formation could be used by Shahad against strong hosts Brazil and free-scoring Denmark in Iraq’s two opening Group A games. Ibrahim has already come up against Neymar in a friendly game against Brazil in 2011 in Malmö.

3 Hawbir Moustafa (1993, age 22) – Defender Hawbir Moustafa who plays for MVV Maastricht in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, is the only expatriate player in the Olympic squad after the exclusion of Swindon Town’s Yaser Kasim and forward Ali Akla of Dutch third division side IJsselmeervogels. The right back spot has been a problematic position for coach Abdul-Ghani Shahad since he took over last year, trying-out Safaa Jabar of Zakho and Al-Zawraa’s Alaa Mahawi in the qualifying stages and even looking at the possibility of starting Al-Shurta’s Walid Salim , the senior team’s first choice right back at the Rio Olympics, but after MVV Maastricht signalled the green-light for Hawbir’s participation in Brazil, Shahad has looked to the versatile full back, who can also play on the left or in midfield if needed. In late 2014 Hawbir received a surprise call-up from the Iraq FA and despite possessing no valid Iraqi passport, he made his debut against Yemen in an international friendly in Manama. Born Sulimaniya, his first name Hawbir means “always in the mind” in Kurdish. With Iraq under UN sanctions and the region in turmoil, Hawbir’s father left for the Netherlands in 1997 and three years later, six-year-old Hawbir & his mother followed. They lived in refugee centers in Leiden, Eindhoven and Venlo before settling in the city of Maastricht, where Hawbir’s brother Hawsang “everything is equal” was born. To keep the young Hawbir preoccupied, he would have the ball at his feet on the street and football helped him make friends. A coach at the local football club RKVCL noticed his abilities near the club’s complex and as the player recalls, the coach “literally forced” him to train. Not long after MVV signed him and at just 17, the club’s head coach René Trost gave the fast and agile full back his debut. At the time the player’s papers were not in order however he was given a reprieve by staying on as a player on an amateur basis and has made nearly 100 appearances for “Us MVV’ke” in the Jupiler League since making his debut in 2011 and has been a club regular for the past two seasons. Hawbir is most likely to play a back-up role at the Olympics, with Shahad preferring the attack-minded Alaa Mahawi on the right side of defence but the young Kurd is certainly one for the future.

4 Mustafa Nadhim (1989, age 26?) – The former Iraqi Olympic captain is the team’s most experienced player at Under 23 level, a starter in the Iraqi League for the past eight seasons in the colours of Diwaniya, Al-Najaf, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, Arbil and now Naft Al-Wasat. Mustafa Nadhim was one of Hakim Shaker’s youth players and after sitting on the bench throughout the 23rd Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia, he was given his international debut by his mentor in a friendly against Malaysia. The defender played at right back that day and scored an acrobatic overhead kick, he has since added 2 international goals in his 14 caps. Nadhim’s date of birth recorded in his passport, September 23, 1993 shows the defender is 22 years old. However, this is highly unlikely to be true. Several sources note he was born in 1991 and others in 1989. The defender played University football, supposedly aged 16 when in Iraq most people would begin university at 18. In that same year, 2010, Mustafa helped guide his University to the Southern Universities Championship title for the first time with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Kufa University with one of the goals scored by another Olympic player Safa Jabar. Age aside Mustafa is an important member of Shahad’s team and in the run-up to the tournament the defender was out for more than a month at the start of the year and only returned to full fitness in late May but with Shahad having worked with him at Al-Najaf and knowing his standing in the team, he has patiently waited for Mustafa to return to full-fitness and he will be expected to marshal the heart of the defence in Rio.

5 Ali Faiz (1994, age 21) – A ball-playing central defender who has long been tipped to be the natural successor to Ali Rahema in the national team. The player demonstrated his versatility in a torrid stint at Al-Shurta last season in a holding midfield role in front of a central defence duo. Shahad deployed him in the same position during the Olympic team’s training camp in Europe this summer, but the defender is also capable of playing at right back. A former graduate from the Ammo Baba Football School, Ali has played at every age group level for the Iraqi national team from U-14s to the senior team and at the age of just 21, has already represented Iraq at the Asian Cup, the WAFF Championship and the Gulf Cup. He was handed his international debut by Serbian Vladimir Petrović in 2013 at the age of 18 years, 11 months and 5 days, becoming one of the youngest players to represent Iraq. However he was given a baptism of fire in his first game when he came up against Chilean stars Alexis Sánchez and Arturo Vidal  – a game which ended in a 6-0 defeat at the Brøndby Stadion in Copenhagen. Ali has played just eight times for the national side since making his debut three years ago but with the rebuilding of the national team under Radhi Shanaishel the defender could be one of the first names on Iraq’s team sheet in a next couple of years. Ali is on the verge of a new chapter in his career after signing a five-year contract with Turkish Super League side Çaykur Rizespor this summer to play alongside Dhargham Ismail and Ali Husni and a lot is expected from the dead-ball specialist who idolised Xabi Alonso growing up. A regular during the qualification campaign, the defender will be a luxury reserve at the Olympics, with the older defensemen preferred by Shahad in his new-look backline.

6 Ali Adnan (1991, age 24) – The footballing juggernaut of a left back who almost gave up on football altogether after he failed to make the cut in his teens with the Iraqi Under 17s. Now one of Iraq’s top footballing exports and plying his trade at Udinese in Italy’s Serie A, Ali has stepped up a level, taking on more responsibility as a senior member of the national team, showing his leadership qualities. His recent displays in Tehran during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers where he played a part in all goals in the 2-2 draw with Thailand and the 1-0 victory over Vietnam which clinched Iraq’s place, were evidence of this new-found die-hard spirit. Since his break-through performances at the World Youth Cup in Turkey three years ago, there have been comparisons made to Real Madrid galáctico Gareth Bale, however he has some way to go before he reaches those heights and is variably a different type of player to the Welsh wonder. However, Ali is not the same kind of footballer, he is a modern overlapping left back, rather than a left winger as Iraq’s ex-coach Yahya Alwan had previously deployed him. His crossing is best from dead-ball situations than when he is in full-flow on the ball. His performances in his first season in Italy’s Serie A have been encouraging although he has been unable cement his place in the first team at the Stadio Friuli despite making 28 appearances in the 2015-2016 season. With a new man in charge at Udinese in Giuseppe Iachini, Ali Adnan has even more to prove and there is added speculation over his future in Italy. The defender follows in the footsteps of his namesake uncle, Al-Zawraa’s legendary forward Ali Kadhim, who represented Iraq in  the 1980 Olympics which was to be his last appearances for the Iraqi national team. For young Ali, the Olympics should be just another stepping stone.

7 Hamadi Ahmed (1983, 32) – A lot has passed since Hamadi Ahmed was first handed his international debut by Brazilian Zico four years ago. The Ishaqi-born forward has waited patiently for his opportunity as Iraq’s first choice striker and after the retirement of legendary captain and forward Younis Mahmoud this year, the Olympics in Brazil could be the place where Hamadi kick starts his Iraq career after years of continuous stop-starts. His shock inclusion came after Yaser Kasim and Abdul-Qadir Tariq were dropped for disciplinary and passport issues. Abdul-Qadir “Aboudi” Tariq’s absence arose after he was detained by security authorities at Najaf International Airport over issues relating to his passport as he was about to make his way with the Iraqi delegation for their two warm-up friendlies against Algeria in Blida. With both Yaser and Abdul-Qadir absent, it left one spot open for an overage player and a striker, to be vacated by Hamadi Ahmed, scoring just 17 minutes after coming on as a second half substitute against Algeria. Hamadi Ahmed Abdullah Al-Taie was born in the town of Ishaqi in the Balad district in Salah-Al-Deen province on October 18, 1989 however there were suggestions made by Olympic coach Nadhim Shaker that the player was born in 1983. The story goes that the player had applied for a visa to Amman to play for Iraq at the West Asian Championship after he was selected by German Wolfgang Sidka, however for unknown reason, the player failed to get a visa and sat out the tournament. Months later he was called-up for the Olympic team by Nadhim Shaker, Sidka’s assistant but with the knowledge that the player had previously applied for a visa with a passport noting the year of birth as 1983, making him ineligible to play at Under 23 level, the coach Nadhim Shaker decided to omit the player so the Iraq FA would not suffer any sanctions from the AFC or FIFA. Confirming the suspicions that he was born in 1983 the player had represented Tikrit University at the Arab University Championship in Cairo in 2006. The player started his career with two local clubs in the lower divisions, first at hometown side Al-Ishaqi and then Al-Balad. In 2004, he moved to first division club Salah-Al-Deen where he spent only a season before making his name at Samarra becoming the club’s main striker and match-winner and is fondly remembered by their fans. His move to Baghdad giants Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya came about after he was one of the provincial players called into the national team after the appointment of German Wolfgang Sidka in 2010 and roomed with Al-Jawiya’s Ahmed Ayad – who was the go-between with the player and the Al-Jawiya club officials and after he was given his release papers by Samarra, he signed for the famous club. The Al-Jawiya forward has been on hot-form with 12 goals in the Iraqi League last season and another 12 goals in the AFC Cup as his side topped Group C. The nippy forward also helped Al-Jawiya to the World Military Cup as the club represented Iraq in the 2013 CISM World Military Cup where Hamadi was the tournament’s top scorer with nine goals in Baku. Hamadi is a poacher in the six-yard box and has been one of the most prolific goal scorers in the Iraqi league scoring 74 goals in his six seasons with the Blue Falcons in the league including 27 goals in a single season in his second season at the club where he was league top scorer for the first time in his career. Last season, Hamadi was joint top scorer with fellow Olympic striker Mohanad Abdul-Rahim with 12 goals and his years of experience will be crucial for Iraq at the Rio Olympics, if they want to advance to the knock-out stages.

8 Mohanad Abdul-Rahim (1989, age 26) – The 2012 AFC Young Player of the Year arrives in Brazil on the back of his best season to date, with 12 goals for the White Seagulls, the current Iraqi league champions Al-Zawraa. Olympic coach Abdul-Ghani Shahad has hedged his bets on the Baghdad-born striker scoring the goals that will propel Iraq into the last 16 at the Olympics. However Mohanad has a secret that the Iraqi media and the FA will not want you to know. The player’s real name is Mohanad Abdul-Rahman Kazar the name he was registered with at Al-Karkh in the 2010-2011 season and was actually born in 1989 making him 26 years and not 22. His passport expires in 2018 and with players finding it difficult to renew their passports with a forged date of birth, this secret could become public in the next couple of years. The Iraqi coach denies any knowledge of age fraud in his team, citing that each member of his squad is eligible to play at youth level as they possessed valid AFC IDs, however he must have known the striker’s real name as Mohanad once scored against Abdul-Ghani Shahad’s Al-Najaf team just before he changed his name! From a young age, the childhood Al-Zawraa supporter and son of a tribal Sheikh would spend his free time on the concrete pitches in his local neighbourhood kicking a ball with friends. It was his late uncle Razzaq who encouraged him to take up the game and coached him with his first shaabiya team with Najoum Al-Mualameen and Iskan Al-Shaabi, the two main football teams in his local area between Iskan and Mualameen where both sides wanted the talented youngster in their team. Mohanad had trials with Khutout under Ismail Saleem however he was overlooked and instead started in the Al-Karkh youth system and had a season at Al-Shabab in the second division after he returned from living in Syria to escape the instability of the Iraqi capital – after losing his uncle and brother Mohammed to the violence in Baghdad. His life changed when his late coach Nasrat Nassir at Baghdad’s Al-Karkh Sports Club switched him from playing as a wide forward to play upfront centre forward position while he was breaking into the Al-Karkh first team and in early 2011 by virtue of a new passport and altered date of birth, he was called into the Iraq U-19s team becoming the main striker in Hakim Shaker’s ‘young’ team, scoring a goal in the AFC Youth Championship final and going onto be awarded the 2012 AFC Young Player of the Year award. Mohanad spent the 2014-14 season abroad in Algeria for JSK Kabylie where he played 12 matches and netted four goals in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1. However his stint in North Africa began in tragic circumstances with the death of Cameroonian team-mate Albert Ebossé who was killed on Mohanad’s debut against USM Alger with the African player fatally struck on the head by a projectile thrown by one of the angry JSK fans while the players were leaving the field. Injuries blighted his time in Algeria, made worse by the synthetic astroturf pitches in the Algerian league and despite scoring two goals against MC El Eulma and receiving an offer French side Angers SCO after he was contacted by an agent about a move to Ligue 2. But even after receiving several contract offers from Algerian and Egyptian clubs he decided to leave JSK. The player, with a young daughter and wife, wanted stability in his life and regular first team football and decided to sign for the club he supported growing up, Al-Zawraa. While in Algeria, Mohanad had an offer to play for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya for one stage of the Iraqi league however the club administration wanted to sign him but did not want play him as a starter as they were looking to him for the future, so he decided to join Al-Zawraa to play for free, however he was unable to move because of an administrative error. The striker is at the peak of his powers and will be Shahad’s main attacking threat at the Olympics. The coach has shown huge loyalty to Mohanad and the forward has returned the confidence the coach has shown in him with goals, injured prior to the qualifying campaign, Mohanad played in every one of Iraq’s six matches in Doha scoring two goals including the opener in the third/fourth play-off game and came off the bench in Iraq’s recent World Cup qualifier to score or thigh-in the winner against Vietnam which clinched Iraq’s place in the next round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Turning 27 this year, Mohanad is one of players arriving at the peak of his career and in the next couple of years, could see him become Iraq’s first choice striker.

Mohanad Abdul-Rahman scores for Al-Karkh against Zakho in the 2010-2011 Iraqi League season

9 Mahdi Kamil (1993, age 23)– The playmaker is one of Iraq’s most improved players, a key man for the Olympic team, increasingly making his presence felt with the senior team, with a crucial goal – his first for the national team – coming in Iraq’s disappointing 2-2 draw with Thailand in Tehran earlier in March this year. Mahdi is one of the U-23’s key players and has been used a variety of positions in midfield and out on the flanks. The Baghdad-born midfielder comes from a sporting background with his elder brother having been played at Al-Jaish while his three cousins Mohanad, Adnan and Ahmed Nassir were also footballers, Mohanad going onto play for Iraq’s youth team and once played against Brazil. In 2007, Ahmed Nassir then of Al-Sinaa was hurt in a twin suicide bombing that took the lives of 80 Iraqis at the Al-Shourjah market in the city of Baghdad and his playing career was ended after his leg amputated from the hip down. His cousin Mohanad Nassir played against Brazil at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina, and the No.9 hopes to emulate his relative by lining up against the Brazilians at the Olympics. In his youth, Mahdi was destined to make it as a footballer, kicking a ball around his local shaabiya field for his local team Anwar Baghdad in Qataa (sector) 5 in Sadr City, people would often tell him that he should try out for a club. The youngster who brushed away their calls but after one local game that changed when a team-mate of his decided to take it upon himself to take him to Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya for try-outs. His team-mate took him to the Air Force Club and Mahdi was picked after trials and won a title with the Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya Ishbal (“Cubs”) under Bashar Latif and Sami Shabib and progressed to the Under 17s under the supervision of Mohammed Nassir. His life forever changed when in a friendly between Al-Jawiya U17s and Iraq’s U17s, Mahdi Kamil in the blue shirt stood-out and impressed the U-17s coach Muwafaq Hussein earning him a call-up to the team. The diminutive street-urchin played in the qualifying rounds for the Under 17s and after the competition with interest from Baghdad rivals Al-Shurta, and with limited playing time at Al-Jawiya, Mahdi decided it was time to move on and signed for Al-Shurta after he impressed officials Mohammed Khalaf and one of the club’s coach Adnan Jafar. However despite signing his first senior contract he never got a game and was placed in the youth team until coach Basim Qasim was appointed and Mahdi eventually made his full league debut. The player has matured from when he first started out, forced to sit impatiently on the bench early on in his career, Mahdi often thought of quitting football, however his own mother advised him to be patient and it was the making of the midfielder, understanding that the coach needed him at specific moments in matches, to a change a game. In his fifth season at the Police Club, Mahdi is considered one of Al-Shurta’s senior players and captained the club in the Iraqi league last season in the absence of injured club captain Amjad Kelaf. Standing at 1.64 m (5 ft 4 1⁄2 inches), Mahdi always had his doubters even when he was called to the Under 17s, however the player the Qithara faithful call Zola after the tiny ex-Italy and Chelsea playmaker Gianfranco Zola, has showed in the past couple of years that he’s more than capable of imposing himself on opponents in the Iraqi league despite his slight frame and lack of height. That belief in his own abilities, may come from his long-admiration for Catalan giants Barcelona and their brand of tiki-taka football, a style more reliant on passing and skill than on strength. A self-confessed Barça fan and an admirer of Andrés Iniesta who the Iraqi player calls a painter with the ball seemingly stuck to his feet and insists the Barcelona maestro does not merely kick a ball but cresses it, much like an artist’s brush on a flat canvas and sees him on a completely different wavelength as a footballer even to Lionel Messi. Perfecting his own ball skills, Mahdi would spend hours observing Barcelona’s No.8 and admitted he studied and learned how to pirouette on the ball from the Spanish genius. A versatile player, Mahdi has been used in several positions with the Olympic team and the national side, at right and left wing, in central midfield and as a withdrawn forward and is certain to be one of first names on Shahad’s team-sheet in Brazil.

10 Ali Husni (1994, age 22) – Newly married and about to embark on a European adventure with Çaykur Rizespor with fellow Olympic colleagues Dhargham Ismail and Ali Faiz, the Karbala-born wide-man will be a key figure for the Iraqi Olympic side at the Rio Games. Seven months ago, the talisman shouldered much of the team’s attacking burden during the Olympic qualifying campaign and was Iraqi team’s standout player and main inspiration throughout their qualifiers. The lively winger had long been touted as the future star of Iraq’s midfield but was continuingly ignored by former national coach Hakim Shaker, in what seemed to have been a personal grudge against the midfielder for his public outburst after he was dropped from the 2013 FIFA Youth Cup squad. He would eventually make his debut in the last minutes of a friendly game against North Korea that same year but was overlooked by the same coach for the Asian Games in Busan and the Gulf Cup in Saudi Arabia. Not until Hakim was sacked after the calamitous results in Riyadh and the appointment of Radhi Shanaishel did Ali Husni get a fair crack at the whip and after appearances against Kuwait and Uzbekistan, the Iraqi coach selected him in the final squad at the 2015 Asian Cup Down Under but had no playing time. Under Yahya Alwan, who gave him his first Olympic call-up, Ali was a regular starter in the national team and scored his first international goal in a 5-1 win over Chinese Taipei and is a significant member of the new generation of the Iraqi national team, post-2007. Ali Husni Faisal was born in 1994, in the province of Karbala however started his football progressing through the youth ranks of the grand old Basra Port Club under the supervision of Mohammed Abdul-Hussein and broke into the first team during the 2012-2013 season becoming one of the club’s pivotal players. Ali’s loss through injury at the Elite Stage of the Iraqi League was felt hard by Al-Safana after he had been outstanding in the opening Group stage of the Iraqi league season where they had finished a point behind leaders Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, however without Ali, the team’s main playmaker and the club’s top scorer Syrian Omar Khrbin – who left for Al-Dhafra in the UAE, Al-Minaa could only finish sixth in the Elite Stage. Today, Ali is on the cusp of something big, with his new coach at Rizespor already dazzled by his abilities after just a couple of days in training and adding that he could be one of the best players in the Turkish league this coming season.

11 Humam Tariq (1993, age 23) – The heir to Baghdad’s renowned Faraj & Sons Confectionary Company was one of Iraq’s prime performers at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Doha. Humam played his heart out throughout Iraq’s qualification campaign to Rio despite suffering the loss of his father prior to the start of the tournament. In spite of losing his place in the national team last year carelessly giving away the penalty that rallied Thailand’s come-back in Bangkok after coming on as a second half substitute, the twinkle-toed Humam is an integral part of the Olympic set-up and is one of the first names on Shahad’s team-sheet. His position out on the left has become his own natural domain. Hard-working and technically gifted, Humam has a lot to offer his team and with the confidence shown in him by his coach, he could have the kind of tournament that got him noticed three years ago at the FIFA World Youth Cup in Turkey. A lot had been expected of the No.11 since then, but the midfielder has faltered to deceive and has been unable to find the right team at club level after he was discarded by UAE Arabian Gulf League club Al-Ahly. In the summer of 2014 after putting pen to a two-year deal with the Dubai club – Humam was sent out on loan to minnows Al-Dhafra – where his displays failed to impress Al-Ahly’s Romanian coach Cosmin Olăroiu, who believed he was not worth a place in his squad for the 2015-2016 season. Turned down for a second season by Cosmin, he decided to return home to Baghdad and the Blue Falcons, buckling down last season, winning the Iraqi Cup, his first piece of silverware with his childhood club. At the turn of the year there were rumours of an offer of a trial from Serie A side Udinese presumably a wasta from Olympic team-mate and close friend Ali Adnan and the player insisted he would travel to Italy for a trial after the World Cup qualifiers in March, however those statements proved to be short-lived as Humam, instead of flying to Italy, finished the season at Al-Jawiya, winning the Iraqi Cup title with a win over league champions in the final. During the U-23’s preparations in the run-up to the Rio Olympics, Humam was given leave to negotiate a transfer to Turkish Süper Lig club Bursaspor however the move fell through at the last minute after the club refused for him to play at the Olympics as it was important for him to represent his country. The experienced 23-year-old with 33 international appearances at senior level–will be in the shop window at the Rio Games and more importantly will have something to prove.

12 Mohammed Hamed (1989, age 27) – Mohammed Hamed knows exactly how it feels to fall from grace, one minute he’s the country’s number one keeper and the next he’s spending seven months without a club. The ex-Iraqi youth captain who only three years ago was regarded as one of Iraq’s best keepers is slowly rebuilding his career after goalkeeping mistakes against Saudi Arabia during the 2015 Asian Cup qualifying campaign and a calamitous error in a AFC Cup tie in the West Bank saw him dropped by the Iraqi FA and released by Al-Shurta! The goalkeeper from the city of Ramadi will be one of ten players from the memorable Iraq youth side which reached the semi-finals of the FIFA World Youth Cup in Turkey three years ago. Mohammed Hamed was the Iraqi youth keeper and one of the star performers in Turkey, a custodian from the Albu Soudah area in the western province of Al-Anbar. He first started on the dusty grounds of the Thilth or third playground in his home town playing for the shaabiya team Al-Karama under the coach and school headmaster Mohammed Khalaf Salim before he made his name with Iraqi league club Al-Ramadi and then moving onto the city of Baghdad to play for Al-Kahraba in 2009 when he was supposedly only 16 years of age. His inclusion in the final 18-man squad by Abdul-Ghani Shahad has been received with both astonishment and surprise by the Iraqi sports press after long allegations of age fraud and for the reason that he has not played any club football since leaving Zakho more than seven months ago! Mohammed Hamed was one of 18 players signed by Zakho at the start of last season, with his contracted ratified by the Iraqi FA on August 24, 2015 however after just two months and 26 days later, he left the Duhok-based club by mutual consent after wanting to move to Al-Talaba in the winter transfer window. However because of contractual issues, the keeper was unable to sign for the Students and spent the rest of the season without a club! Shahad’s predecessor Yahya Alwan had vowed not to select any players with any suspicions of age fraud and dropped Mohanad Abdul-Rahim, Saif Salman and Mohammed Hamed! However when Shahad took charge in, repeating the Iraq FA’s statements noting that the players possessed AFC IDs which in their words proved the trio were not over-aged, the trainer recalled Mohanad and Saif and after qualifying for the Olympics finals in Rio, the Iraqi coach deemed Mohammed Hamed worthy of a place in the 18-man squad. There have been persistent rumours behind the scenes that the Iraqi coach had only selected players for the final Olympic squad based on agreeing to sign for Naft Al-Wasat where Shahad will manage next season, with Mohammed Hamed one of those players.

13 Sherko Karim (1996, 20) – One of Iraq’s coveted young footballers, Sherko Karim’s international career has been blocked by his own European aspirations, where he is now plying his trade with Swiss side Grasshopper Zürich. The boy from Kirkuk will be one to watch at the Olympics. Sherko Karim Latif Gubari was born on June 25, 1996 in the northern city of Kirkuk and made his first steps on the fields of local Al-Thawra Sports Club in his home city. He was discovered by Iraqi U-17 coach Muwafaq Hussein on one of his scouting trips scouring for new talent around the country, and after watching him, he quickly called him up to play for his side, and shortly after, moved to Baghdad to play for Al-Shurta. It was after the U-17s qualified for the 2012 AFC Under 17 Championship that Iraqi clubs began clamouring for his signature, with Arbil one of the favourites to sign the striker but instead he moved south to the Iraqi capital to start his career in the top division, and after an initial offer from Al-Karkh, he moved to Al-Shurta. On December 30, 2011 at only 15, he signed a three year contract with Iraqi Premier League club Al-Shurta then managed by coach Basim Qasim, and made his senior debut for the Police club a year later, before going onto help the Iraqi U-17 to qualify for the FIFA Under 17 World Cup for the first time. The delay in Sherko Karim making his full international bow centres around the striker’s clash with the FA and his U-19 coach while he was with the Iraq youth side in Myanmar when Sherko had been selected to play at the 2014 AFC Youth Championship. In the second half of the group game against Qatar when his coach Rahim Hamed turned to bring the young forward on, but was told by his two assistants that Sherko had left the bench and was sitting in the stands! The player insisted he had informed the two coaching assistants that he was not in the right state of mind to play and later claimed he was physically assaulted by the coach after the game for what was perceived as his obdurate stance. Sherko’s thoughts had been elsewhere as he had been waiting in the city of Arbil for a visa to fly to France for trials with several clubs when he was called up by the Iraq FA. Before the youth tournament the player had been told he would be suspended and his ITC clearance would not be released wrecking any move to Europe if he refused a call-up from the Iraq U-19s side. Sherko swiftly made himself available and arrived a day before they departed. At the end of 2014, Sherko finally received his visa and flew to Paris and had trials at French clubs Montpellier, Valenciennes, Marseille and AS Monaco, where it was reported that he was close to signing a deal, though an Iraqi journalist claimed Monaco pulled out of a three-year deal after finding out that the player was over the age of 17 after undertaking tests, alleging that he was born in 1991! Sherko eventually signed a two and a half-year contract with Swiss club Grasshopper Zürich and went straight into their youth side. This summer Sherko scored a goal in the final of the 79th edition of the Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup in Zurich in a 2-0 victory of English club West Ham and was awarded the Adidas Golden Ball as the competition’s best player. On the eve of the final Olympic qualifying round in Doha in January this year, Sherko left the team after his club refused to allow him to take part but this time around, Abdul-Ghani Shahad made sure he would have the striker in his squad in Rio after he travelled with Olympic representatives to Zürich to speak to Sherko’s club about allowing him to play at the Olympics. SK7 could be a revelation in Rio and one to look out for.

14 Saad Natiq (1990, age 26) – A battled hardened central defender who put his life on the line in the dying moments of Olympic qualifying play-off against Qatar, diving in front of a goal-bound effort to save Iraq in Doha. That selfless act willing to put his body on the line for the nation earned him the nickname Al-Fedaye or the commando for the fearless way he cleared the ball with his body. The Iraqi Olympic coach has been experimenting with three men at the back and it means Saad will be a vital part of the squad, after first appearing that he would be dropped from the starting line-up with the inclusion of overage centre back Ahmed Ibrahim. A Najaf native, Saad navigated his way through the Al-Najaf youth system and made his senior debut with his home club under Hatif Shamran in 2009 and was part of the club’s first team for two seasons. However it was in the Iraqi capital that Saad made his name, when he joined Doura-based oil refinery club Al-Masafi in the south of Baghdad where he played for three seasons – earning his selection to the Iraqi U-19s. It was under Hakim Shaker that Saad Natiq or Suad Natiq – the English spelling in his passport (Suad is a female name) became one of the nation’s recognised defenders after years in the wilderness. Saad Natiq was born in 1990 according to the identification card issued by the Ministry of Youth this year however his passport states March 19, 1994 – allowing him to play for the Iraqi Under 19s at the FIFA World U-20 Cup in Turkey. It was his spell at Al-Masafi under the command of trainers Hassan Ahmed and Nadhim Shaker that he developed as a player and was transformed into a strong tackling centre half after used in several positions at the club including at right back having first started out as a midfield anchor in his early days at Al-Najaf. In the summer of 2014, the defender was signed by his former Al-Masafi club coach Nadhim Shaker to play for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya after his club were relegated to the first division. On signing the central defender the head coach of Al-Jawiya, Nadhim Shaker stated that the decision to sign him came as part of the club management’s desire to strengthen the team’s defence, and Saad went straight into the team. Last summer the defender looked to be on the move again, but decided to renew his contract with the Blue Falcons however despite winning the Iraqi Cup with a 2-0 win over Al-Zawraa it was a disappointing season with the Air Force Club and has had offers to play abroad, namely Iranian giants Perspolis in the Persian Gulf Pro League.

Details from Iraq’s Ministry of Youth for Visa cards released to sportsmen – Saad Natiq 19/3/1990

15 Dhargham Ismail (1991, age 25) – The hard-working and technically gifted left-sided player is the only member of the squad not to have taken part in the Olympic team’s preparations in the run-up to the Rio Games after his Turkish club Çaykur Rizespor refused to release him to link-up with the Iraqi team – citing that the Olympic Games was not on FIFA’s international match day calendar. It was touch and go whether Dhargham would represent Iraq at the Games, however after months of letter writing and joint Iraq FA and Olympic delegations traveling to Rize to negotiate the player’s release for the tournament, it was agreed the left back would be allowed to join from July 29 along with his new Iraqi club-mates Ali Faiz and Ali Husni. The left back joined the Iraq FA youth system more than six years after FA member Yahya Zaghir the secretary of Naft Maysan, where he was a youth player, took the promising footballer to Iraq U-17 coach Muwafaq Hussein and presented him as “a player from Al-Sadr City,” a city within a city in the Iraqi capital, no one knows why the Iraq FA official decided to hide the fact that the talented player was from the province of Maysan, maybe it was because he felt the player would have it easier. Dhargham was a footballer from the province and for decades the Iraqi youth sides had been dominated by Baghdad-based players, both because of the prejudice against the provincial talent and the close proximity from the youth sides training facilities in the Iraqi capital and with only a few coaches scouting around the country for new talent. Yahya Zaghir may have believed it was better for Dhargham to be labelled a player from Baghdad rather than face the prejudice of coming from the provinces. Two years later, the technically gifted left sided defender was the star of the Under 17s side, wearing the No.9 with presenter Haidar Al-Wattar waxing lyrical on MBC channel about the extraordinary talent. Dhargham Ismail was born on May 23, 1994 in the city of Amarah in Maysan province, in south-eastern Iraq. Though Dhargham was considered a wonder kid who had played for the U-17s, U-19s, U-23 and the national side in the space of a year, there were rumours that he was not born in 1994 but was actually three years older than what was stated in his passport and the player’s real date of birth was apparently April 25, 1991 There were two incidents that the player was involved in, that correspond with this fact. On September 13, 2012, he was one of the nine players from the youth team preparing to travel to Amman for a friendly tournament, who were detained at Baghdad International Airport by security officials after it had been discovered that the players were travelling on forged documents. The nine players were Ahmed Hussein, Mustafa Nadhim, Ali Adnan, Ammar Kadhim, Mohammed Ali, Jawad Kadhim, Karrar Salih, Ali Yasin and one Humam Tariq. The Iraq FA held a meeting with the youth coach Hakim Shaker a week later regarding the issue but six of the nine players took part in the Asian Youth Championship in the UAE two months later and the scandal was swept under the carpet. However he went onto play at the 2013 FIFA World Youth Cup in Turkey and the 2014 U-23 Asian Games in Busan. But on his return from the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia, where he was one of Iraq’s best performers, the Interior Ministry detained the player at Baghdad airport, and he was unable to participate in his club’s AFC Cup matches until a combination of parliamentary and ministerial interventions ensured an end to the crisis. Dhargham had been one of five Al-Shurta players that had their passport confiscated by the Ministry of Interior after they were about to expire however their application to renew their passports was rejected by the Ministry of Interior due to evidence of forgery. The five were Dhargham (born 1994 but whose actual DOB was 1991), Ali Bahjat (1992/1987), Mohammed Kasid (1986/1982), Mahdi Karim (1983/1977), Amjad Kelaf (1991/1988) and Hussein Abdul-Wahid (1985/1983) all had their passports confiscated after evidence of tampering with their DOBs in their passports differentiating from the details recorded on the national civil registry, with the age altering attributed to the players participating in age range tournaments and they could not play with their real ages because they had all registered with the AFC with their reconstructed date of births with the knowledge of the Iraqi FA. On March 12, 2015 the player was issued with a new passport from the Immigration and Naturalization Service in the Interior Ministry. The Passports and Nationality Directorate of the Interior Ministry had handed him his passport after a period of revisions made to issue the passport. According to the Baghdad-based sports paper Al-Mondial, a source within the Ministry of Interior had put an end to the crisis after a personal intervention from the Minister of Youth who demanded them issue a new passport the player for the interest of the national side, however the details noted in his new passport were the same forged information that were used so he could play in age range tournaments. The passport was issued on the condition the player reverted back to his real age and documents after the end of his participation in upcoming football tournaments, as had been done under the Iraq FA in pre-2003.

16 Saad Abdul-Amir (1988, age 28) – Iraq’s new captain is coming into the Rio Olympics in the best form of his career after a commanding first season at newly promoted Al-Qadisiya in the Saudi Abdul Latif Jamel league – with his club finishing a respectable 11th in the Saudi league. His accession to the Iraqi captaincy has come after years of hard-work, spending many of them as understudy to the big names in the Lions of Mesopotamia team, waiting calmly and patiently for his opportunity. The 28-year-old came into the international fold six years ago after impressing for the Iraqi School team! In the summer of 2010, weeks after he had won the Arab School Championship in Beirut with the Iraqi School team beating Egypt 2-1 in the final, Saad was included in Sidka’s first squad, and was one of only three players from the initial preliminary squad that was selected for the final 2010 WAFF Championship squad. The retirement of Qusai Munir and career threatening injury to Muthanna Khalid saw Saad become Iraq’s most experienced player in midfield in the run-up to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, four years after he had sat on the bench at the 2011 tournament in Doha watching Qusai and Nashat Akram organising the midfield. In Australia, Saad formed a strong midfield partnership with Swindon Town’s Yaser Kasim that was one of the reasons for Iraq reaching the semi-finals. Olympic coach Abdul-Ghani Shahad had lost the suspended Saif Salman – ceremonially dispatched after alleging his daughter was seriously ill and needed to return home, immediately after he was told by Shahad that he would be on the bench for the quarterfinal against the UAE during the qualifying tournament! Lacking strength and experience in midfield, Shahad had hoped to bring in the national team partnership of Saad and Yaser Kasim to the Olympic set-up to shore up the centre, however Yaser’s yet unexplained AWOL act means Saad will be in midfield with the youngster Amjad Atwan. Born in 1988, Saad Abdul-Amir Liabi Al-Zirjawi first played shaabiya football in the Shuala Al-Sadreen district in Baghdad, making his way through the youth teams at local club Al-Shuala and then Al-Kadhimiya before joining Al-Karkh in the first division (second tier) gaining promotion with Yellow and Black jerseys to the top flight in 2009. Saad Abdul-Amir is somewhat the quiet leader of the Iraqi team, a soft-spoken person who rarely gives interviews – which the Iraqi media claim is the main reason why the player is not amongst the Iraqi fans’ favourite players. The unsung hero, Saad is generally deployed as a holding midfielder but has the drive and the determination to bring the ball forward or make runs down the flanks. Though derided by Iraqi football fans for what they perceive as his lack of skill and ability, Saad’s experienced will be essential at the Olympics in Rio. A player who plays the game at his own tempo and has a calming influence on the team.

17 Alaa Mahawi (1994, age 22) – The overlapping full back is one of only three players in the squad of 18 yet to play senior international football but has already played at every single age level for Iraq, bar the national team. The former Kahraba player always has his late club-mate and close friend Mahdi Abdul-Zahra close to his thoughts and dedicated Iraq’s qualification to the Olympic Games in Brazil to his friend who was killed in a car bombing in Baghdad in 2015. In tears after the final whistle in the 2-1 play-off victory over Qatar in Doha, Alaa told reporters that he had wished his team-mate and friend was alive to join them in the moments of joy. After the qualifying tournament in Doha, Alaa and Amjad Atwan were called up by national coach Yahya Alwan but with questions over the player’s match fitness, Alaa was dropped on the eve of the team’s departure to Tehran for the final two World Cup qualifiers. Alaa Ali Mahawi is another graduate from the famous Ammo Baba Football School and from there he was selected for the Iraqi Ishbal (“Cubs”) and participated in the Asian Cup at that level, before progressing to the Under 17s – where he was one of five Kahraba players in the first Iraq Under 17s team – including his late friend Mahdi Abdul-Zahra – to play at a World Cup at U-17 level. At 16 years of age and already considered one of the best players in his country in his age group, he signed for Al-Kahraba in the second division after receiving several contract offers for the start of the 2013-2014 season, preferring to join the Electrics Club which at the time included a close group of players in the same age group. After representing Iraq at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the UAE, his club were inundated with offers for the attacking full back with Arbil making a serious bid for his services, with the player explaining to his club’s management that he wanted to leave to Arbil however the move was quickly rebuffed by his club, insisting he honoured his three-year contract. After two seasons at Al-Kahraba and his club finishing one place off the bottom of their league group, Alaa left the club and was signed by former Al-Zawraa coach Emad Mohammed to play for the White Seagulls– on signing the player, the former Iraqi striker – who was later replaced by Basim Qasim – predicted a big future for the right back, and in his first season at Al-Nawaras, Alaa scored the winner at a packed Al-Shaab stadium in the Baghdad El Clásico against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya side-footing the ball through the hands and feet of Olympic colleague Fahad Talib and went onto lift the league title.

18 – Amjad Atwan (1997, age 19) – A certain starter for the Olympic team in Brazil, the all-action midfielder is like a son to the Iraqi coach after managing the Kut-born footballer at Naft Al-Wasat. It was Abdul-Ghani Shahad who signed the player whilst coach of the Midland Oil Club spotting him at nearby Karbala and transformed the player into a holding midfielder having been a forward early on in his career and the pair have worked closely from that day on. He has been ever present with the Olympic side since Shahad took over last year and his career has gone from strength to strength after making the move to Naft Al-Wasat in 2014. The former Iraq U-17 international has the ability to play anywhere in midfield, whether in a holding role, on the right or left flanks or as an advanced midfielder. After guiding the U-23 team to finals of Rio Olympics with some imperious performances in Doha particularly in the quarter-finals against the UAE, scoring the winner, Amjad was handed his first senior call-up by Yahya Alwan and made his debut in 1-0 defeat to Syria in a friendly in Tehran this March and subsequently started in the World Cup qualifiers with Thailand and Vietnam. After an erratic season at Al-Shurta working under the management of four coaches Hakim Shaker, Qahtan Chathir, Radhi Shanaishel and caretaker Hashim Ridha, the midfielder has agreed a return to Naft Al-Wasat for the new season where he will link-up with his Olympic coach once more. Amjad Atwan Kadhim Al-Maksousi born in Al-Kut in the province of Al-Wasit, was a product of the Al-Kut youth system who he first joined in his early teens and in due course made the first team in 2012 before transferring to fellow province club Al-Nahrain in the lower divisions after representing Iraq at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in a team which featured Amjad, Sherko Karim and team captain Bashar Resan as the three main attacking players. In 2014 he signed for Karbala and played his first matches in the top flight in the Iraqi league and was spotted by Abdul-Ghani Shahad and signed him for newly promoted Naft Al-Wasat. In the space of six months, Amjad become one of the Iraqi league’s most coveted players and won an Iraqi League winners’ medal in his first full season at the highest level. The midfielder – now a full international – has had offers from clubs in Turkey, Portugal and Oman after an unsatisfactory spell at Al-Shurta, however has decided to return for another season at Naft Al-Wasat – under the management of Abdul-Ghani Shahad. Undoubtedly Amjad has the natural ability to become one of the most talented footballers of his generation, however he has learn to be more disciplined and control his temperament at times but his talent on the pitch shines through.

Reserves/Alternatives

Bashar Resan (1993, age 22) – The second of Al-Jawiya’s gifted wide attacking midfielders. Like Humam Tariq, the fresh-faced Bashar was promoted to the first team at a relatively young age and captained the Iraq U-17s at their first ever appearance in a World Cup in the UAE three years ago. His father Resan Benyan was footballer in the 60s and 70s and appeared for Iraq at the 1973 Palestine Cup in Libya and named his son after his close friend and former Iraqi national team player Bashar Rasheed, who was executed by the Baathist regime in 1978 at the age of just 29. The young Basra started playing on Palestine Street in the Iraqi capital for shaabiya team 14 Tamouz (July) and had the privilege of being a student at the Ammo Baba Football School from the age of 12 and spent two years at the school before joining Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya at 13. He first played for the club’s ishbal and then the nasheen and in the space of just nine months he found himself in the first team. In the 2010-2011 season Bashar was plucked from the Jawiya junior side where at 14 he was playing football with boys much older than himself to train with the first team after he was seen in a game by team coach Thair Ahmed and his assistant Walid Dhahid and he has been a first team member ever since. He has represented Iraq at every level from U-14 to the seniors which he made at the age of 17, amid allegations of age fraud which he has fervently denied and fired back at people criticising him and other Iraqi youth players, biting back by asserting that they were “not Iraqis”, harming Iraq and its football, while questioning the ages of young players, without providing evidence unlawfully defamed the reputation of Iraq. He captained Iraq at the FIFA Under 17s World Cup in the UAE at 16 and was called-up to the national team for the first time in October 2013, only a month before turning 17. He went onto will make his full international debut for Iraq at the age of just 17 years, 8 months and 13 days after first coming to prominence in the Iraqi league in 2010 at the age of 14. However in truth, Bashar was born in 1993 and is the same age as Mahdi Kamil and Humam Tariq. After qualifying for the Olympics, the player gave his AFC U-23 winners’ medal to a mother whose son was one of 1,700 Iraqi soldiers martyred in the Speicher massacre in 2014. The flank midfielder despite signing with the same football agency as Sherko Karim and Nashat Akram’s former FIFA licensed football agent Behrooz Dezhbod and with a desire to play abroad, turning down an offer to play in South Korea for Pohang Steelers only last year, Bashar decided to renew his contract with his beloved Al-Jawiya for another season.

Ammar Abdul-Hussein (1986, 29) – Ammar Abdul-Hussein was one of the Iraqi league’s outstanding performers last season with the Basra Port Club, Al-Minaa. At club level, his now departed Syrian coach Hossam Al-Sayed used him as a striker with his ability to beat an opponent in one-on-one situations and his deadly pace put to good work. However Ammar is a versatile footballer and can operate as a winger or behind the main striker which was why Abdul-Ghani Shahad had a look at the player. The forward is in the form of his life, but the ex-Iraq youth international is no spring chicken and has been playing club football in the Iraqi league for over a decade. Ammar or to give him his full name Ammar Abdul-Hussein Abdul-Karim Al-Asadi was born in the city of Basra on October 6, 1986 and is actually 29 years of age according to one Iraqi journalist who released a copy of his national identity card! Over the years in attempts to make it as a footballer and in the Iraqi youth teams, Ammar has altered his date of birth on two occasions, first changing it to 1989 and then in the effort to get himself into Hakim Shaker’s Under 19s team made himself 6 years, 2 months and 26 days younger and represented the youth team at the 2012 AFC Asian Youth Championship in the UAE and the 2013 FIFA Youth Cup – meaning he was 26 when he appeared in FIFA world youth competition! The pacy forward has played for six clubs in his career, including Arbil and Al-Shurta and is in his second spell at Al-Minaa. His international career has been a let-down making only four appearances under the tenure of Hakim Shaker, which included only one start against Syria at the 2012 WAFF Championship in Kuwait while his only highlight with the national side was when he was ushered off the team bus with club-mate Halgurd Mulla Mohammed by Brazilian coach Zico – who protested that he had not selected the two players from Arbil – a call-up undoubtedly made by FA vice president at the time and now president, Abdul-Khaliq Masoud Al-Mullah. The player will play for Iraqi league champions Al-Zawraa this season.

Ammar Abdul-Hussein’s ID card with his DOB noted as 1986!

Mohammed Maan (1992, age 24) – The central defender is one of the starlets from Hassan Ahmed’s fledgling Al-Naft team that lit up the Iraqi league last season. Another graduate at the Ammo Baba Football School in the Iraqi capital, the centre back has represented Iraq at various levels at U-14, U-17 and U-19 and has played for Al-Sinaa and Sulimaniya in the Iraqi league. He transferred from cash-strapped Sulimaniya to Baghdad in the 2014 winter transfer window in order to break into the national team. The confident centre back has great potential and was able to impose himself as one of the outstanding young players in the Iraqi league, with a good level shown at Al-Sinaa under Qahtan Chathir and at Sulimaniya where he was one of the main pillars of the team. Mohammed was one of the 50 players selected by former Olympic coach Yahya Alwan on the eve of the Olympic qualifiers in Muscat but failed to make the final squad. Despite allegations of age fraud and on the back of his performances in the Iraqi league, he was called up by Abdul-Ghani Shahad for the final qualifying stage in Doha, where he played mainly as a reserve making only one appearance in the group stage in the 1-1 draw with South Korea and in the last minutes of the play-off victory over Qatar. In the team’s preparations for the Rio Olympics, the defender played in every single warm-up game against FC Santa Coloma, SV Horn, Zenit St Petersburg, Kalmar FF and the two matches against Algeria U23 in Blida and South Korea U23 in São Paulo however was used only as a substitute in each of those games playing just over 90 minutes in seven matches!

Karrar Ibrahim (1993, age 23) – Al-Minaa’s first choice keeper who would have gone to Brazil as the Olympic team’s reserve keeper had Abdul-Ghani Shahad not decided to recall the experienced Mohammed Hamed. Karrar was born in the southern Iraqi city of Basra and comes from the Al-Abelah district in the centre of the city and played for local shaabiya teams Zamalek and Al-Sadaqa before he joined Al-Minaa as a teenager. Karrar is a product of the Al-Minaa youth system first playing for the famous club’s ishbal team as a defender! It was only when he returned to football after eight months out after suffering a broken leg during his time playing for the nasheen side that his coach Mohammed Hussein Galim moved him from defence to stand between the posts, it was the making of him. At youth level, Karrar was considered one of the best young players in his age group and represented the provincial school select team the Basra Tarbiya side alongside Hamza Adnan and Ali Husni winning the provincial championship in 2008 over Baghdad’s Al-Rasafa on penalties and that same year he was selected to play for the Iraq school team at the Arab Championship in Jordan, where the team finished fourth. Two years later, Karrar was part of the Iraqi school team which won the same competition in Lebanon. His dream growing up in Basra had been to play for the blue of Al-Safana where his uncle Ismail Hashim had played during the 1990s which he achieved when Karrar made his debut in the 2009-2010 season against Maysan and has gone onto captain his boyhood club. He was handed his only start by Shahad in the Olympic qualifying campaign against South Korea after Iraq had already qualified for the quarter-finals. After qualifying for the Olympics, Karrar and three of his club mates Ali Qasim, Hamza Adnan and Ali Husni were suspended until the end of the 2014-2015 season by their club for their absence from training without a legitimate reason after returning late from the Olympic qualifying tournament. The ban was later overturned however the club’s governing body decided to deduct 10% of their contracts before they allowed to return to the first team. The club captain of Al-Minaa where he has been part of the senior team for the past four seasons recently renewed his contract with the Basra Port Club for another season, working under new Romanian coach Marin Ion, formerly of Zakho.

Lebanon’s Montenegrin manager Miodrag Radulovic reacts during their 2018 World Cup qualifying group G football match against Kuwait in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on June 11, 2015. AFP PHOTO / STR

Lebanon are steadily rising under Radulovic and haven’t looked as tactically smart since Theo Bucker’s two year stint. What was missing from this side to help them challenge for the top spots? A better finisher up front coupled up with possibly more movement from Moni to free Maatouk, the star of the Lebanese National Team.

Instead of dissecting Lebanon’s tactical features in detail, I will look at what they have excelled at (tactically) under Radulovic. For all the character that Bucker had, Radulovic compensates for that with his tactical intelligence.

Individual issues 

Lebanon have only conceded 4 goals in the World Cup Qualifiers, and when you look at the goals they don’t come from tactical problems rather individual problems. Let’s address them here first.

Goalkeeping Dilemma – Abbas Hassan has been a controversial pick for Lebanon. Despite Lebanon’s success under Bucker, he was always the weak link. Therefore, Radulovic came under scrutiny after picking Hassan after his consistent blunders. Mahdi Khalil is currently the best goalkeeper in Lebanon at Safa SC yet the sole fact that Abbas Hassan plays for Elfsborg in Sweden (where he has played 3 games in the space of 2 years) saw him ‘earn’ a first team spot.

Mahdi Khalil

Abbas Hassan

Mahdi Khalil entered the fray against Myanmar and Kuwait after Hassan’s disastrous run of form, and Lebanon successfully nullified any defensive frailties via Khalil’s commanding performances in goal. “What if?” Lebanese fans ask. “What if Khalil played against Kuwait in the first game, and helped us at least hold them to a 0-0 draw? We’d have much more of a chance to qualify.”

Abbas Hassan’s passiveness has proved a big problem for Lebanon. In 3 of the goals he conceded (1 has been as a result of a penalty) we can see how he either a) stares at the ball going in, without any attempt at moving or b) making a late dive to save the ball, which he ultimately fails in. The arrival of Khalil has strengthened the Lebanese defence massively.

Khalil’s confidence, command of area and communication has become the epitome of Lebanese goalkeeping since the retirements of Ziad Al-Samad and Larry Mehanna.

A look at Lebanon’s latest starting XI.

Individual defensive ability – Legendary centre back Youssef ‘Dodo’ Mohammad has been away from club football for more than 1 and a half years and is still going strong. You can’t blame him for the little, if any, mistakes he makes. Yet his commanding performance has been lauded in the media and rightly so.

The only significant problem – which is now offset by Lebanon’s medium to low defensive block – is his partner. Although Joan Oumari and Bilal Najjarine aare good players, they struggled to fit in. The reason for this derives from their tendency to draw themselves towards the attacker Dodo is taking care of. However that could be linked to Lebanon’s attacking intentions towards the end of the game against Kuwait (away from home). Moreover, South Korea possess players in the English Premier League such as Ki, and were no doubt many levels above the in-transition Lebanon.

Finishing Dilemma – 75% of the goals Lebanon have scored in the World Cup Qualifiers have occurred due to Hassan Maatouk’s involvement. The only goal scored without his touches or movement was Abbas Atwi’s goal against a relatively weak Myanmar (who shipped 9 goals against Kuwait) in injury time.

Despite the addition of tricky and former Al-Ittihad Jeddah winger Mohammad Haidar, Lebanon have failed to put the ball in the net more than four times in five games; a travesty in itself.

Mohammad Ghaddar and Moni haven’t played club football in more than 6 months (the latter for much longer), Philippe Paoli is still a part of the U-23 team and former Sporting KC forward Soony Saad – sadly – has missed out a large portion of playing time due to injury.

Defensive structure

Block and set-up

Radulovic has indoctrinated a 4-5-1 medium-low defensive block system that ensures the protection of the most important part of the pitch: the centre. With Lebanon boasting two powerful 1-on-1 full backs in Ali Hamam and Walid Ismail (defensively), both of whom are able to recycle possession well, Radulovic needn’t to worry about the flanks as opposed to the heart of the pitch.

This match saw two ‘strikers’ up front for Lebanon. Abbas Atwi and Roda Antar played as False 10’s to block the SK defensive midfielders from receiving the ball. Tactical flexibility.

Defensive midfielders  

The Lebanese strength in the centre comes from the defensive midfielders. Another variation that Radulovic has used was adding a centre back into defensive midfield to win aerial battles and add a body in midfield to support Haitham Faour. Joan Oumari (FSV Frankfurt) and Nour Mansour (Safa SC) have been tried in defensive midfield, and both have performed well.

These have not only added ‘aerial’ winners, but in Mansour and Oumari you have different players. Oumari was played alongside the calmer Haitham Faour against SK, to bring an aggressive style of play to the proceedings. On the other hand, Mansour dropped behind Antar against Kuwait in the absence of Faour to cover the space around him and block any chances stemming from the talented Saif Al-Hashan.

Mansour (circled) in between a triangle of Kuwaiti players, positions himself well – to defend, not receive the ball – in case of any turnovers.

Pressing

Lebanon are extremely passive in the press, with their high-pressure deliberately a form of delay rather than win the ball back.

In this image we can see how Lebanon position themselves far away from Kuwait’s defenders to organise themselves.

However, it was clear that Radulovic highlighted Fahad Al-Ansari of Kuwait. He stands at 1.95m tall, with long legs helping him to intercept the ball easily. Plus, he is adept at playing the ball out of defence.

To battle this, Radulovic blocked the centre under all circumstances. Knowing that the full backs are adept at 1-on-1 situations defensively, he was assured of security in deeper areas.

This picture shows all of the tactical ideas put into place. Al-Ansari is not being heavily pressed, but “delayed” until Lebanon tire Kuwait into winning the ball. We see Nour Mansour near Al-Hashan in the middle although not man-marking him, while Oumari’s aggressive tendency sees him move out of the defensive line and screaming instructions.

One of the best Arabian football players, Bader Al-Mutawa (#17) drops all the way back to defensive midfield to help Kuwait! Note, Al-Mutawa is a “False 10” (attacking midfielder who acts as a striker) and instead he had to drop deeper.

Attacking structure

The key problem for Lebanon across the course of the qualifiers has been their attacking profligacy. Besides scoring 4 in respective 2-2 draws against Iraq and Syria, they have only seen 4 goals scored (combined) against Palestine, Jordan, South Korea, Kuwait, Myanmar and Laos.

Kuwait alone against Myanmar scored more goals in the second half against Myanmar than Lebanon did in the whole qualifying process. A more worrying stat comes in the form of 2015 itself, where Kuwait scored more goals (9) against Myanmar than Lebanon did in the whole of 2015 (8).

Let’s look at how Lebanon’s structure has adapted under Radulovic. One very key tactical aspect used by Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel is overloading one side of the field. They do this to free up space on the “underloaded side on the pitch”. This is where they let Arjen Robben or Henrikh Mkhitaryan attack space with much more space around them. In this case, the “Arjen Robben” is the dazzling Hassan Maatouk who plays for Fujairah SC in the United Arab Emirates.

The Lebanese players have adapted to each other and the system very well – considering they did not play together for more than a year, before the arrival of Radulovic – and it can see Walid Ismail (LB) or Mohammad Haidar (RW) do the same and be found in space to receive the ball and counter attack into space.

Walid Ismail – #18 – in acres of space on the left flank.

The reason that Lebanon failed to execute this could go down to the fact that this was the first time it was implemented to its optimum potential (relative to Lebanon and Middle Eastern football level) and still had the final parts of finishing (which is a psychological and talent-centric aspect of football) which didn’t work. Hassan Maatouk is not Ronaldo, and even Ronaldo isn’t a factor for his team every single game.

Conclusion 

Calls for Radulovic to depart have started to lessen. Many people are still optimistic for a final push with Radulovic for the final round of qualifiers but know that it may be inevitable should the nation not qualify.

In an era where tactics and statistics triumph over sole talent, Radulovic is using his time well to scout and plan for the Lebanese national team. After all, he travelled around Europe all summer looking for players of Lebanese origin.

It’s time for Lebanon to understand that there is a way out without talented players and that is strategic triumph on the pitch. With that, current players will develop under the reign of the current manager.