The round of 12 is about to usher in the 9th round of matches, in addition to the match between the national football team and Saudi Arabia, there is also a game in group A that is related to the right to qualify, that is, Iraq home to meet the UAE. Historically, Iraq has lost 2-4, 2-3 against the UAE, which is a bad hint to the team's prospects.
Iraq currently ranks eighth in Asia, only one place higher than the national football team, which is reasonable to say that it is comparable to the strength of the national football team. However, in this world preliminary tournament, the Iraqi team did not play the level it should have, and the current 8 rounds of matches have not been won, and Syria has become a difficult brother. Today, Iraq has set 2 major humiliation records in the round of 12. Record 1: 0 wins so far in the round of 12; record 2: Only 4 goals were scored in this round of 12, the least number of participating teams. It can be said that the current situation of the Iraqi team is worrying.
Fortunately, with 5 points brought by 5 draws, the Iraqi team still maintains a glimmer of life in the qualified. That's because the third-place team, the UAE, also has only nine points, and the 4-point gap between the two teams is theoretically hopeless. What's more, in the 9th round, the UAE will have to play directly with Iraq, as long as it can win Iraq's previous invincible spell can be broken, and chase the UAE team to 1 point. As the former Asian Cup champion, Iraq still has this heritage.
But in other words, in the current state of the Iraqi team, it is really impossible to expect them to catch the last train of the World Cup. Nowadays, the war in Iraq is still relatively serious, and the players are also a little reluctant to fight, and it is a very good result to be able to play the game peacefully in a safe environment, not to mention the luxury of being able to defeat such a strong team as the United Arab Emirates. Therefore, it can be said that the journey of the Iraqi team in this World Preliminary Tournament has ended prematurely, and their fate is the same as that of the national football team, which is the early exit of the World Cup.
Petrović, the coach who coached Iraq, has said that if these Iraq can qualify for the World Cup, he will jump from the National Bank building, which means that he even feels that the team he coaches will not be able to enter the World Cup. He said that there are very few Iraqi players staying abroad, and the level of domestic leagues is deteriorating, the players can't get good training at all, the foundation of the players is very poor, it's like building a house, even the foundation is not laid, how to expect them to break into the World Cup?
Obviously, the current Iraqi team has long been scattered and its combat effectiveness is quite low. Although Iraq's ranking is higher than that of the national football team, the overall strength is weaker than the national football team in terms of the current state of Iraq. After all, various reasons for society make players in an unfavorable environment, and the national football team is at least worry-free, the Football Association is also vigorously supporting, just the winning bonus is as high as 6 million a game, so if it is really a fight, Iraq is afraid that even the national football team can not play, let alone want to win the United Arab Emirates, to qualify for the World Cup.