Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tehran: Iraq coach Muwafaq Hussein says he will not be content with just qualification to the 2012 FIFA U-17 World Cup and has expressed his determination to deliver the West Asians their first AFC U-16 Championship title.
Iraq booked their place in the semi-finals of the 15th edition of the continental youth tournament with an assured 3-1 win over Kuwait in Sunday's quarter-final clash at PAS Stadium.
Ali Isam put Iraq 1-0 up in the 55th minute before a sublime Abdullah Al Asfour free-kick levelled the tie 12 minutes later.
Salman Ali restored Iraq's advantage in the 74th minute just two minutes after entering the fray with the impressive Samer Majid making it 3-1 direct from a corner kick.
The victory saw Iraq become the first team from Asia to join hosts UAE at next year's FIFA U-17 World Cup in what was a personal triumph for the 48-year-old after missing out on Mexico 2011 following Iraq's 3-1 defeat to Japan at the quarter-final stage of the 2012 AFC U-16 Championship in Uzbekistan.
"I am delighted with the win and this victory has made the people back in Baghdad very happy," said the Iraq coach, who interrupted his post-match press conference to take a congratulatory call.
"But qualifying for the World Cup is not enough for us as we want to win this tournament and bring the cup back to Iraq.
"This was a tough match for both sides and the Kuwait team played as well as we did. But we had studied their team well and we knew their weak points and we were able to take advantage of this during the game."
Kuwait's hopes of reaching the World Cup finals at youth level for the first time in the history ended at the hands of the impressive Iraqis but defeated coach Goran Matkovic had no complaints about the result, graciously conceding that the better side on the day had won.
"I have to say that Iraq deserved to win and they dominated the match," At the same time we did help them by making silly mistakes at the goals," said the Serb strategist.
"On the positive side we were well organised and the players kept their discipline. Also this match provided great experience for them as it was a huge challenge to get to the semi-finals."
Matkovic, who was assistant coach as Al Qadsia finished runners-up in the 2010 AFC Cup, revealed that he wanted his side to take a more offensive approach but were unable to do so as Iraq dictated the play.
"We wanted to take more risks and we did this quite successfully in the first half but in the second the players didn't want to take any risks as they felt under pressure," he continued.
"But as I said, Iraq was better than us. Maybe we gave them too much space but they deserved to win. This Iraq team has the quality to get to the final and I wish them all the best."