The second stage “Al-Nokba” of the Iraqi League began on June 27, here are all the results so far. Talaba’s coach Karim Saddam has resigned from his post after the 1-0 defeat to Al-Naft Al-Janoub.
June 27
Kirkuk 0-1 Arbil
Loay Salah 45
Al-Minaa 1-2 Al-Sinaa
Sultan Jassim 18; Ali Sabbar 71, 86
June 28
Karbala 0-0 Duhok
Kahraba 1-2 Al-Naft Al-Janoub
Ali Hussein Abid 60; Qais Issa 4, Nassir Talaa 44
June 29
Al-Najaf 1-0 Al-Shurta
Saeed Muhsin 3
Pires 0-2 Al-Zawraa
Abbas Hussein Rahema 22, Hassan Mohammed Zaboun 86
July 1
Al-Sinaa 0-1 Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya
Haidar Rahim 22
July 2
Duhok 4-0 Karbala
Hussein Abdul-Wahid 3, Ahmed “Baggio” Khudhair 40, 57, Nawaf Falah 90
July 3
Al-Naft Al-Janoub 1-0 Talaba
Qais Issa 80
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BAGHDAD (AFC) : The Iraqi Football Association (IFA) disbanded the AFC Asian Cup winning national team and parted ways with coach Adnan Hamad on Wednesday.
Asian champions Iraq lost to Qatar in the last round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup third round qualifiers and failed to advance to the next stage.
“It is really sad that Iraq lost in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers,” said a statement from the IFA. “Iraqis are not happy with the results.”
“The Iraqi FA has decided to disband the team as of now and also not continue with the services of Adnan Hamad as coach. The team will not participate in the West Asian Football Federation Championship.”
“We will concentrate on rebuilding the team and the Gulf Cup in 2009 as well as the FIFA Confederations Cup.”
The statement continued: “We are thankful to Adnan Hamad for his efforts and tremendous achievements.”
Hamad, AFC Coach of the Year in 2004, took over from Norwegian Egil Olsen at a difficult time and managed to haul the team back from the brink. The Asian champions were a point away from a berth in the last 10 but a solitary goal defeat to Qatar in the last round dashed their dreams.
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Hassanin Mubarak
IFA treasurer Abdul-Khaliq Masoud has confirmed that coach Adnan Hamad and his coaching staff have been relieved of their duties after the Iraqi team’s exit from the World Cup.
He explained that despite the former Al-Faisali coach having replaced Egil Olsen after the opening draw to China, he and his coaching staff had not signed a contract with the IFA. He added that Adnan Hamad and assistant coach Yassin Amal had left Dubai heading for the Jordanian capital Amman.
Masoud stated that the IFA would hold a meeting in Arbil on July 3 to look at the reasons for the World Cup failure and the team’s poor performance in the 1-0 defeat to Qatar.
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KUALA LUMPUR (AFC): FIFA has informed the Iraqi Football Association that their complaint regarding the eligibility of Qatar’s Brazilian-born player Emerson (Marcio Passos De Albuquerque) cannot be submitted to the Organising Committee for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa as it did not meet the time-line stipulated for such protests.
FIFA, vide a letter dated June 23, 2008, has drawn the Iraqi Football Association’s attention to article 13 par 3 of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Regulations according to which protests regarding the eligibility of players nominated for matches in the preliminary competition should be submitted in writing to the general secretariat no later than 24 hours before the match in question.
Earlier, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee examined the case and cleared the Qatar Football Association of any wrongdoing, noting that “pursuant to the decision of the Qatar FA, the player is not eligible to play for Qatar and cannot play any further matches for the representative team of Qatar.”
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Iraq lost 1-0 in Dubai after a 77th minute header from Qatar’s Seyd Ali Becher, and are out of the World Cup.
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Hassanin Mubarak
IRAQ coach Adnan Hamad confidently named his line-up a day before their crucial World Cup clash with Qatar to be played in Dubai on Sunday.
Iraq will be missing captain Younis Mahmoud who limped off in the opening moments of the first half in Tianjin, while centre back Saad Attiya is suspended after picking up his second booking of the qualifiers against China. Mahdi Karim, who come on as a substitute in China, and Salam Shaker are named in their place.
Iraq will line-up with Nour Sabri in goal, Basim Abbas, Haidar Abdul-Amir, Salam Shaker and Ali Hussein Rahema in defence, Hawar Mulla Mohammed, Nashat Akram, Qusai Munir, Mahdi Karim in midfield, with Salih Sadir in an advanced role behind the man striker Emad Mohammed.
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Hassanin Mubarak
Iraq’s team doctor Dr. Emad Shaker confirmed to Al-Sabaah newspaper that captain Younis Mahmoud may still play a part in Iraq’s last game against Qatar on Sunday.
He said that the medical staff would assess the player’s injury during the next two days to determine whether or not he is fit enough to play a part in the decider with Qatar. However he is unlikely to play a full ninety minutes.
The Iraqi team doctor confirmed that the player had been carrying an injury during the World Cup qualifiers and despite his club wanting him to have further tests for the troublesome hamstring injury in Germany, Younis decided to postpone the trip to Europe and help Iraq into the second round of the World Cup qualifiers.
He was expected to leave for Germany after the recurrence of the injury against China, but the captain felt it was best to stay with the Iraqi camp to boost morale on the eve of such an important game.
In other news, the Iraqi captain’s club side Al-Gharafa have signed Brazilian forward Fernando Lúcio da Costa, or Fernandão from Internacional for the new season and handed Younis’ No.9 jersey to the one-time Brazilian international forward. The acquisition of Fernandão may indicate an exit from the club by Younis before the start of the new season.
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