Bye Bye Iraq it seem's...

[Arashi_Washi]

Iraq are currently down 1-0 against Australia with a 47th minute strike from Harry Kewell...

Seems like the Asian Champion's with this loss are most probably out of the competition

Emad Reza was in the starting lineup and did well, But as we know him from his games in Sepahan, He missed a few great chance's including a one on one with Australian goalkeeper Mark Shwarzer...

Iraq played great early in the match but seem's like their confidence is shatterd and we wont even see Iraq in the 2nd round

[Arashi_Washi]

Match is finished....
Iraq lost....


Seems like either China or Qatar will take up the 2nd spot....
Lets hope its China

Iraq has only collected 1 point out of their 3 matches and are on the bottom of Group 1...

[shayan20]

Iraq started the match well by hitting the crossbar and giving Australia a big scare but Australia eventually took control and controlled the pace of the game.
However, Iraq should have scored at least one from all those oppoutunities they created.

Emad Reza played the full game and had an ok game. His shot was blocked by schwartzer's feet but he should have done better with his one on one.

Good win by the Socceroos, they just insured they will be in the next stage.

[Zamboor]

YES!

thank you you just made my summer

[Ali]

lol great goal by Harry Kewell-perfect header!

[Rumi]

sad day for modern Iraq

[KC McElroy]

In my opinion this (and iraq's other recent results) show that iraq's championship was just a fluke.

[persian boy]

i cant stand any of the teams in group A

[Suprah]

In my opinion this (and iraq's other recent results) show that iraq's championship was just a fluke.

More like Iraq running out of steam after significant highs over the last few years:

* QFs in 2004 Asian Cup
* finishing 4th in Sydney Olympics Football in 2004
* silver medal in 2006 Asian Games
* winning Asian Cup in 2007 with sort of the same team.

and when you go up, there's only one inevitable thing left: coming down.

[LoriMagician]

In my opinion this (and iraq's other recent results) show that iraq's championship was just a fluke.

be ghole to they saudied the saudies in the final and possibly the whole competition Itself

Vali dame saudi garm that they accepted this and let them win cup without refusing the bargain to let thier ppl have something to be happy about

[KC McElroy]

More like Iraq running out of steam after significant highs over the last few years:

* QFs in 2004 Asian Cup
* finishing 4th in Sydney Olympics Football in 2004
* silver medal in 2006 Asian Games
* winning Asian Cup in 2007 with sort of the same team.

and when you go up, there's only one inevitable thing left: coming down.

Maybe, except this really isn't coming down, it's crashing down. If you look at the results there are a number of Asian teams who have similar results as well and are still performing at the same level.

[Suprah]

Maybe, except this really isn't coming down, it's crashing down. If you look at the results there are a number of Asian teams who have similar results as well and are still performing at the same level.

Well I guess the Holy Grail in international football is playing in the World Cup, and sadly in Iraq's case they are running out of steam at the most crucial time of their post-Uday era football history. Sad.

[Nokhodi]

I saw the match. Iraq deserved at least 1 point from the match.

[Sumerian]

Australia dominated that game, no denying that. But Iraq pulled off several clear cut chances to not only equalize, but win the game. It's a shame but it was a well-deserved win by the Aussies.

Honestly Australia aren't as good as you think. They let an away team get so many opportunities on goal.

Emad hit the crossbar, missed a one-on-one, and missed another golden chance...that's Emad for you. He's been cursed for years now. It's no wonder Vieira didn't include him in the Asian Cup.

Highlights if you didn't watch the game:



Aussies Admit: We Were Lucky

Verbeek's comments:

Verbeek said: ‘I'm very happy with the three points, but not with the performance. We started quite lucky, with the ball hitting the crossbar and I think that's the story of the game - we gave too many chances away, we were lucky. Overall I'm sure we can play much better.’

Kewell goal sinks Iraq

"That (victory) was not what we deserved, I think everybody understands that.

Kewell goal saves blushes after scratchy performance

[Sumerian]

Aussie comments on the match:

http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showt...=692674&page=9

The Iraqi's had heart and played us off the park. Their worst player was their goal keeper. Australia's best player was our goal keeper. Says it all really. I didn't watch this match through rose tainted glasses like some others, this was one of the worst performances defensively i can remember.

I also think Pim's psychological games backfired. He claimed they would be defensive and counter attack all game. He imbedded this mentality in to our defence and they got complacent. And....our offensive players were too anxious, naive and overcommitting. Oh, Grella needs to shut his mouth and stop motivating the opposition. They are technically better than us and don't have to respect us!

If they had a tad more composure they would have put four past us, so I wouldn't start slagging them off. We have a good thing going in midfield but at the other ends there's a lot to work on, and this was the easy bit, the Dubai-Qatar double header is going to put real pressure on, we'll be lucky to get out of those games with a point.

Nobody can deny the heart of Iraq though. They never say die.

This game and the Ghana game a week ago showed how much we have been riding our luck. I don't think it is a lack of talent that's the problem rather a lack of experience playing with each other this way. look at the regular players tonight. Emerton, culina, grella, bresc being playing together for years, and tonight I thought our Midfield at times was the best i have ever seen. Some Fantastic passing.

I thought iraq were excellent. how did they not beat Qatar and China? thank god for kewell.