Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Newcastle: Coach Radhi Shenaishil insists Iraq’s fourth place finish at the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 remains a “positive result” for the former champions following Friday’s 3-2 defeat by the United Arab Emirates.
Iraq led 2-1 at half-time of the third place play-off at Newcastle Stadium as Waleed Salim and Amjed Kalaf scored for the 2007 winners to cancel out Ahmed Khalil’s opener.
But with Khalil and Ali Mabkhout scoring after the break for the UAE, Iraq failed to comeback a second time, playing over 30 minutes with 10 men after Ahmed Ibrahim had been sent-off in the build up to what proved to be the winning goal which came from the penalty spot just before the hour mark.
Watch Shenaishil's post-match interview
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“We have a team which is the young generation and we can see they can represent Iraq especially in the World Cup qualifiers and in the years to come. Fourth place out of all the Asian countries is still a positive result,” said former Iraq international Shenaishil, who was only appointed as interim coach less than a month prior to the start of the tournament.
“We have played all the matches positively and passionately. Today is the final match in the competition to try and gain something for the history of Iraq football.
“This competition found a new team; there is a new generation for the Iraq team so it is a positive result for the history of Iraq.”
Shenaishil only made three changes following the semi-final defeat by Korea Republic on Monday, with goalkeeper Mohammed Hamed and midfielders Mahdi Kamil and Yaser Kasim brought into the side, while first-team regulars Ahmed Yasin and Younus Mahmood were amongst those retaining their places.
And it was captain Mahmood who wasted a glorious chance to extend Iraq’s lead just after half-time after being played in by Kasim with only the goalkeeper to beat, with the UAE taking full advantage by equalising six minutes later before netting the winner soon after through Mabkhout who had been hauled down by Ibrahim inside the penalty area following a mistake by goalkeeper Hamed.
“We had a few personal mistakes from players from our team. We tried our best, but we made mistakes on our side. They did their best and we controlled most of the match. They played a high quality match and I thank them for their effort,” added Shenaishil, who will now return to Qatar’s Qatar SC with his future with the national team unclear.
“There was a lot of pressure especially after the red card and scoring the penalty. We tried to solve the problems but we couldn't.”
Photo: WSG