The Hindu : Sport : Confident Iraq takes on India today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
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Sport

Sport

Confident Iraq takes on India today

S.R. Suryanarayan

CHENNAI: A settled side on one side, that is Iraq. An unsettled combination on the other side, that is India. This is the picture on the eve of the Group E pre-Olympic football match at the Nehru stadium.

For Iraq this is a match that will provide the opportunity to collect the full three points to gain the lead over close rival D.P.R. Korea.

Coach Yahya Alwan Manhel, who had taken the Iraq team to the Doha Games final, looked very confident. "It will be a tough match," he agreed. "No match is easy," he went on but he knows when his team could beat India by a 3-0 margin in its opening match in Jordan, then it should be a lot better now when sitting pretty, having qualified for the final round of the qualification phase.

But he is modest. Having seen the Indian footballers in the 1995 Nehru Cup tournament in Kolkata, he felt "the Indians organise themselves better, now particularly in the defence. You know we got all our goals only in the second session in that match in Jordan." So Yahya believes there will be some moments to ponder for the Iraqis in the match.

Quite in contrast was the scene in the Indian camp. Infact for the news that India may gain three points, even if by default for the `wrong' that Thailand did in its match in Chennai, should have been inspirational. According to a source in AIFF, FIFA has sought action against Thailand after it came to know that the country had fielded a player who had two yellow card bookings in his name. A final decision has not been taken in the matter. Not that the `three points' if they come is going to change India's fortunes, but a positive approach is the expectation.

Dilemma

The Indian team, however, appeared in a dilemma on the final combination. Leading clubs fail to release players, then injury problems are there and so deciding the list of eighteen players proved a task. In between Habeebur Rehman injured his knee during practice and is ruled out for Wednesday's match. Head coach Bob Houghton was not around to give any further insight.

The squads: India (from): Subrata Paul, Rakesh Mashi, N.S. Manju (capt), Habibur Rahman Mondal, Debabrata Roy, Gourmangi Singh, Rocus Lamara, Syed Rahim Nabi, Tarif Ahmed, Oaquim Abranches, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, Gurjinder Singh, Praveen Rawat, Jerry Zir Sanga, Bhola Prasad, Branco V. Cardozo, Marlangi Suiting.

Iraq (from): Md. Kasid Khadum, Alaa -K- Jlas, Md. Ali-Karem, Fareed-M-Ghadban, Dira-M-Habeib, Khaldoun-I-Mohammed, Ahmed Abid Ali Mohamed, Kerrar-J-Muhamed, Haider-S-Husan, Mostfa-K-Abdulla, Alaa-A-Khashen, Ali Abbas Mshehid, Halkard-M-Mohamed, Usama-Ali-Mohamed, Mouslim Mobarak Almas, Wisam Zaki Abdullah, Ali-M-Alwan, Ali-Hussein Rehema.

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