- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Iraq’s place in a sixth consecutive Asian Cup quarter final goes on the line against a heroic and wildly popular Palestine in Canberra tonight. Join The Roar from 8.00pm (AEDT) for live blog coverage of the match.
Palestine have emerged as everyone’s second favourite team as they have negotiated the perils of a highly competitive Group D.
Refusing to be daunted by their much more highly fancied opposition, they have been tweeting that they only require an eleven goal victory against Iraq to progress through to the quarter finals.
That would require a major transformation from a Palestinian defence that have already leaked nine goals. Given their much publicised difficulties in even being able to assemble a team, the Palestinians have brought romance and passion to the 2015 finals. With ever growing public support, the excitement generated by their debut finals goal scored by Jaka Hbaisha in the 85th minute against Jordan spoke volumes about their character.
Victory for Iraq would ensure Iraq’s participation in the quarter finals, a feat they have achieved in every Asian Cup since 1996. As heirs to Iraq’s “golden generation” that secured the 2007 Asian Cup, Radhi Shenaishil’s side have struggled for consistency. This is a young side on the rise, showing significant promise.
A year on from the country’s success in the inaugural U22 Asian Cup, which followed from a 3rd place in the 2013 FIFA U20 World Cup in 2013, the young Iraqis have been amassing great experience in tournament competition. Their mixed results leading to these finals however, have highlighted the difficulty in stepping up to open competition. Since achieving qualification in the final round, they remained without a win until the critical 1-0 win over Group D runner up rivals Jordan in the first round.
It is difficult not to see the Lions of Mesopotamia roaring in this one. With a quarter final berth on the line, Iraq has everything to play for. The Palestinians are justifiably tiring after stepping up to not only full time professionalism but also the emotional and physical demands of finals tournament play. With truly gifted young players such as Ahmed Yasin seemingly always waiting to be unleashed, and the experience of the talismanic Younus Mahmood, Iraq should be too strong for a brave Palestine.
Nothing is ever certain in football, but you can rely on Palestine to play with passion, pride, and power. Perhaps the weight of the 4 million Palestinians and millions more who have joined their campaign in spirit, will finally lift rather than burden star striker Ashraf Nu’man, and those eleven goals will magically materialise. Their enterprise and endeavour surely deserve at least one of them.
Prediction: My prediction is Iraq 4-1.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.