According to the Iraqi press, the country’s national team will field a reserve squad in the match against Vietnam team on January 24. Coach Jesus Casas wants to protect his team from injury and the penalty card in the match is only a formality.
Accordingly, Iraq will completely change the starting lineup compared to the two matches against Indonesia and Japan. As goalkeeper, Jalal Hassan will be rested. He is Iraq’s number one goalkeeper under coach Jesus Casas and plays quite solidly. One of the two reserve goalkeepers Fahad Talib or Ahmed Basil will start the match against the Vietnamese team.
In defense, coach Jesus Casas is expected to replace three players. First, right-back Hussein Ali will give his position to Allan Mohideen. Testing Allan Mohideen is necessary because this player has impressed in recent training sessions.
Two midfielders Saad Natiq and Ali Adnan will sit out. In which Saad Natiq received a yellow card. This player needs to avoid receiving another yellow card if he does not want to be suspended in the eighth round.
Player midfielder Amir Al-Ammari will likely be rested to give his position to Ahmad Allee. Similar is the case of Osama Rashid and Ibrahim Bayesh. Prodigy Zidane Iqbal (who played for Man Utd) and Montader Madjed were used as replacements.
In attack, Aymen Hussein could not play due to injury. This player shined when he scored a double against Japan, bringing victory to the West Asian team. Mohanad Ali was chosen to replace him.
Even though he only played the reserve team, coach Jesus Casas asked his students to focus on fighting with the goal of winning 3 points against the Vietnamese team. . Anyway, this move by Iraq also opens up an opportunity to win points for the Vietnamese team.
In the match in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in November 2023, team Vietnam national team suffered a 0-1 defeat against Iraq. Mohanad Ali scored in the last minute to help the home team defeat the Vietnamese team.
The match between the Iraqi team and the Vietnamese team took place at 6:30 p.m. on January 24.
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