The official spokesman for the Iraqi Football Federation, Salam Menaish, announced that 13 players will be absent from the "Lions of the Tigris" squad during their participation in the Arab Cup, hosted by Qatar from December 1st to 18th.
In an interview with "Al-Ittihad", Menaish stated: "The Iraqi national team will not raise the slogan of competing for the title in this edition, but rather for participation and to give an opportunity to some new players or those who have not played before to assess their technical level. The ultimate goal is to prepare for the World Cup playoff scheduled for next March."
Regarding his predictions for the tournament winner, he said: "This is very difficult due to the strength of the participating teams, especially the Arab African teams, which are the top contenders, in addition to the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which will play an important role in the competition."
Menaish added: "The coach of the Iraqi national team, Australian Graham Arnold, decided to call up players from the Iraqi Stars League, plus only two players from European leagues: Marko Verge and Amar Mohsen from Sweden."
"Therefore, we will enter the tournament with a slogan of participation rather than competition, with a parallel goal of preparing a number of players returning from injury, including Ayman Hussein, to restore their match sharpness," the federation's representative explained.
Regarding player Ali Al-Hammadi, Menaish confirmed that he is currently continuing his treatment, pointing to ongoing communication with the player and his club, Luton Town, to speed up his recovery period, wishing him to be ready before the World Cup playoff matches.
He continued: "We have a previous experience after Gulf Cup 25 when the team raised the slogan of winning Gulf Cup 26 in Kuwait, but it appeared in a frustrating manner due to the psychological pressure that accompanied that participation, which reflected on its matches against Kuwait and Palestine in the World Cup qualifiers, leading to the loss of valuable and easy points."
"We will not participate with the same squad that is playing the Asian playoff and the matches against the UAE, due to injuries, in addition to calling up a number of players to the Olympic team participating in the Gulf Cup under 23 next January, followed by the Asian Olympic Championship."
He added: "With the Iraqi national team will be Muhannad Ali from Emirati club Dibba, and Ali Jasim from Saudi club Al-Najmah. From the local league, Methem Jabbar, Ahmed Al-Muknazi, Karar Nabeel, Zaid Ismail, Amjad Atwan, Mohammad Jawad Nafoura, Hussein Ali, and others will participate."
Menaish also added: "The draw placed the 'Lions of the Tigris' in a strong group that includes Algeria, the defending champion, Bahrain, Sudan, and all are teams with great strength."
