NOBODY EXPECTED US TO QUALIFY, SAYS IRAQ COACH

Kolkata, Oct. 15: Iraq chief coach Qahtan Chitheer said his team’s a maiden knockout berth in the Fifa Under-17 World Cup will unite people in the war-torn country.

They finished second behind England from a tough Group F to set up a Round of 16 clash against Mali.

“Nobody expected us to qualify. This was a tough group but we succeeded to be second with teams like Mexico and Chile,” Chitheer said after losing 0-4 to England in their last round group fixture on Saturday.

“This will surely unite our people. We will forget today’s result and start afresh. We will study the team of Mali and do our best to go further,” the coach said.

Against Mali, Iraq will be without their star striker Mohammed Dawood, who has scored thrice in two matches, suspended due to a double booking.

In his absence regular captain Saif Khalid is likely to start after missing their group stage matches because of a niggle.

“We played the first match without him (Saif) because he had a little injury and then tried to stick with the same side. Maybe, we will need him next match,” Chitheer added.

Hailing England’s strong show, the Iraq coach said they lost to a better team.

“England were very strong opponents and well organised. We tried to change our tactics and played with five in defence but after that we went back to 4-2-3-1.

“England were better prepared than us, and deserved to win. Our players were exhausted in high humidity,” he added.