Here is an interview with the footballer Ahmed Adel Alykob to shed light on our Iraqi football team and its chances in the next two matches. He said: the big changes in the team’s lineup may have a negative effect on the national team. The changes may negatively affect the player’s level and performance. So, during a competition, there shouldn’t be any lineup changes in order to raise the players’ level in the matches.
He added: some optimists may think that these big lineup changes may have a positive effect and improve the team’s level by including some great names in the tournament. I might agree with them; and expatiate players are the best solution as they made a big difference in the team and they proved they were up to the expectations.
Concerning the matches with Iran and Lebanon, Alykob said: undoubtedly, the matches with Iran and Lebanon are challenging. The Iranian team proved to be a big team with distinctive attack power and the great potential to get qualified.
As for our match with Lebanon, I believe it will be different from our first match with the team. The Lebanese team was not that good then, but lately, it got back to its distinctive level.
Alykob also commented on the potential of the Iraqi team getting qualified in the World Cup. He pointed out it is possible when we Have a strong tournament, distinctive clubs and convenient pitches. He added we don’t have good football pitches for the teams to get training, medical rooms or any other necessary requirements to raise the player’s performance and physical abilities. The weak infrastructure contributed to the players’ underperformance that negatively affected the team.
He highlighted the idea that what the Iraqi team needs to get qualified to the World cup in the future is a complete professional process that includes investments, getting expatiate players and creating a sense of harmony between local and expatiate players for the good of the national team.
In Alykob’s opinion, there has been a big mistake lately as the Iraqi coach was not available quite enough to train the players and organize a strong national team in a short time. That’s why we cannot evaluate his experience at the time being as it is a confusing and unproductive period. The coach was not there in Iraq; he didn’t watch the tournaments and also he is not aware of all the players’ levels. All that had a bad effect on the team and its results.
Alykob concluded that there are a great many distinctive and good players who were not lucky enough to join the national team. On the other hand, there are many other players who are there in the team in spite of their underperformance. This does not give the chance to other good players who will have a great influence on our team and its results once they are given the chance and trained well.
