A clear blue sky, a soft wind, a freshly watered lawn. 28 players warming up, quietly kicking a ball, fooling around with each other. Those who don’t know any better see a football team preparing for a match in almost perfect conditions.
As if there is no war in their homeland. As if they hadn’t been on the road for days to get here, to the Mexican city of Monterrey. As if the match they have to play against Bolivia on Tuesday is not the most important of their lives. Because this team, the selection of Iraq, is – regardless of any extension – ninety minutes away from their first World Cup participation in forty years.
Almost a significant part of the team, those who play in the Iraqi league, did not come to Mexico. Due to the closure of airspace in large parts of the Middle East, it was uncertain for a long time whether Australian national coach Graham Arnold (active as a player at Roda JC and NAC Breda, among others) could put together a complete selection.
When the war in the Middle East began in late February, Arnold was in Dubai, his medical staff in Qatar and his players playing in Iraq – 60 percent of his squad – stuck in their home country. In addition to logistical problems, there were administrative obstacles: Mexico does not have an embassy in Iraq, so Mexican embassies in Saudi Arabia and the UAE had to process visa applications.
The situation was so difficult that Arnold called on FIFA to postpone the decisive qualifying match until a week before the World Cup, which starts in June. The world football association refused that request, but did arrange a private plane that would depart from the Jordanian capital Amman. Iraqi players had to spend 20 hours on a bus from Baghdad to get there. A planned training camp in Houston was canceled by the Iraqi Football Association.
Violence continues
The complete selection has finally been meeting in Mexico for about a week. In the meantime, violence continues in Iraq, which is being hit with missiles by Iran, the US and Israel. “We immediately brought the war up for discussion after the players arrived. You have to give it a place,” says Dutchman René Meulensteen, assistant coach in Iraq and Arnold’s right-hand man. “It is very important to know for everyone whether their families are safe in Iraq, and that they keep in touch with them. But we also tell the players what they can do from Mexico for their family and the rest of their country. If we can get this across the line, that will be huge.”
Meulensteen was Arnold’s assistant for many years with the Australian team, and followed him when he became national coach in Iraq last year. They divide the tasks: Meulensteen keeps in touch with Iraqi players who play in European competitions, Arnold tries to visit players in Iraq as much as possible. “They are two different worlds. The players who play in Europe are sometimes not even born in Iraq, or do not speak Arabic. Conversely, the players in Iraq also grew up in a different culture. You have to bring those two groups together and make them work together, which went very well in this qualifying series.”
Qualifying for the World Cup would be a great way to change Western perception of Iraq.
National coach of Iraq Graham Arnold (left) and assistant René Meulensteen, here as coaches of Australia in 2024.
Photo Dave Hunt/EPA
Direct placement did not work out, but if Iraq beats Bolivia, which qualified for the final match last week by beating Suriname, the Lions of Mesopotania to the World Cup. “It would be a great way to change the Western perception of Iraq,” says Meulensteen. “It would give Iraq in general and the players in particular so much energy. This is a football-mad country, you don’t want to know how those 48 million people feel about their selection.”
If Iraq qualified, it would be the first time since 1986. At that time, the World Cup was also played in Mexico. Key players in the current team are FC Utrecht midfielder Zidane Iqbal, Ali Al-Hamadi (Luton Town) and Amir Al-Ammari, who plays in Poland. According to Iraqi football journalist Mustafa Al-Dashti, who has millions of followers on social media, the fact that these players can write history is very important for the country. He draws a comparison with an earlier war in Iraq.
“In 2007, Iraq won the Asia Cup. It was the first time that the country won that title. At that time, Iraq had been torn by war for years,” says Al-Dashti. “The enormous joy that the title brought, the distraction for people who were in a lot of pain, I think a World Cup qualification will provide the same.”
Unlike the Iraqi selection, Al-Dashti did not have a private plane at his disposal to come to Mexico. “Just like the national team, I first spent twenty hours on the bus to Amman. I then flew to Abu Dhabi in the UAE to get a visa. But once I got my visa, there were no flights to the west. So I flew to Tunisia. From there I went to Turkey. And then I could finally fly to Mexico.” It took the journalist a total of eleven days to get to the country where the national team hopes to qualify for the World Cup.
For a moment there was hope in Iraq that the team would qualify without playing because Iran, which was immediately qualified, doubted whether it wanted to play in the US. Iran’s sports minister threatened that the country would withdraw from the tournament so as not to play in the country with which Iran is at war.
Mehdi Taj, the president of the Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI), then demanded that Iran would play its matches in Mexico, also because Iranians currently have an entry ban in the US and it is unclear whether this ban will be lifted during the World Cup. Iran later backtracked on those demands, but it is clear that current geopolitical tensions will play a major role during the World Cup. Journalist Al-Dashti does not fear empty stadiums if Iraq, which has also been imposed heavy travel restrictions by the US, qualifies for the World Cup.
“The Iraqi community in the US consists of about 400,000 people. They will cheer passionately for our country,” he says. “A good moment to show the world what a proud country we are.”
Heavily armed police everywhere
Many international journalists are present at the training sessions and the limited press moments in Monterrey, more interested in geopolitics than sports. The complex where the Iraqi team is preparing for the match against Bolivia is hermetically sealed, with heavily armed police everywhere.
The fact that we can make tens of millions of people proud actually gives the boys strength.
National coach Arnold, who answers questions from journalists every day for a few minutes, says that he does not fear that the war in Iraq will cause less focus in his selection. “Everyone has family, and that family is almost entirely in the Middle East. So you can never completely cut yourself off from the war. But I don’t fear that it will create more pressure or less focus. The fact that we can make tens of millions of people proud actually gives the boys strength.”
International Amir Al-Ammari as a player from the Polish Cracovia.
Photo Marcin Golba / Getty Images
After the long journey from Iraq, he gave his players two days of rest in Mexico to recover. Now the focus is on the match against Bolivia. Top player Amir Al-Ammari, who plays for the Polish Cracovia, did not have to travel as long to get to Mexico. He says the long journey of his teammates playing in Iraq gave him inspiration.
The long return journey will be a lot easier if we qualify for the World Cup.
“Traveling twenty hours from Baghdad to Jordan in a bus is not without dangers. They did that because they wanted to play here for their country. We should see that journey as a symbol for the qualifying series,” says the midfielder. “We have overcome many obstacles to get here, and we have to gain strength from that. And besides, we know it is a long road back to Iraq. That journey will be a lot easier if we qualify for the World Cup.”
