Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: Hakeem Shakir dismissed any talk of fortune playing a part in his Iraq team’s success in the final of the AFC U-22 Championship at Seeb Sports Complex on Sunday evening, having seen his side defeat Saudi Arabia for the inaugural tournament title thanks to a first-half goal from Mohanad Abdulraheem.
The 2012 AFC Youth Player of the Year netted in the 33rd minute which maintained Iraq’s 100% record in the tournament and proved to be the match-winner. In doing so, the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup semi-finalists completed a double over Saudi Arabia, having also defeated them 3-1 in the group stages of the tournament.
“We beat them in the first match, so I could tell they were very keen to beat us back, but we defeated them again and claimed this championship,” said coach Shakir.
“No one was expecting us to win this tournament. I’ve been working with these players for two years and this was unquestionably our toughest match together.”
Iraq’s victory is the first time the side has won a tournament under Shakir. Along with his celebrated fourth place finish in Turkey last year in the FIFA competition, the 51-year-old has seen his team finish as runners-up at the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship, the 2012 WAFF Championship and the 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations.
“I am very happy to have finally won a final, after losing at this stage several times before,” he said.
“To have this team be one of the best in Asia is a fantastic achievement, especially with a 100% record, there are so many people who are working behind the scenes for the team including coaches, trainers and officials that all help this to happen.”
Shakir countered any suggestion that Iraq’s win might owe some thanks to the woodwork after Saudi Arabia’s Abdulfattah Asiri’s penalty on the half-hour mark struck the post and deflected to safety.
Shakir’s opposite number Khalid Al Koroni had suggested that the incident proved to be a game-changer as just three minutes later Iraq made the vital breakthrough via the boot of Abdulraheem.
“Even if the penalty had gone in, we would have scored again anyway,” said coach Shakir. “I don’t think we were lucky in this game; we were the best in this match and in the tournament as a whole.
“We had a plan that we devised ahead of the game and followed throughout the match perfectly.”