A-Leagues legend Graham Arnold has seen his Iraq side finish last in Group I and leave the FIFA World Cup with no points to their name.
Iraq’s FIFA World Cup campaign came to a disappointing end as they were beaten 5-0 by Senegal – Rebin Sulaka’s sending off saw them both a goal and a man down after just 10 minutes in Toronto.
They bow out of the tournament with no points to their name and just one goal: Ayman Hussein’s emphatic, delirious equaliser in their opening match against Norway. This was Iraq’s first FIFA World Cup appearance since Mexico 1986 and their work was cut out for them in a Group filled with France, Norway, and Senegal.
Graham Arnold, Head Coach of Iraq
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Iraq began their FIFA World Cup with a 4-1 defeat to Norway featuring a brace from Erling Haaland before Kylian Mbappe ran riot in a 3-0 loss against France.
Arnold mentioned in a press conference before the match against Senegal that his contract as the head coach of Iraq, “ends in about five-six weeks time.”
“I have spoken briefly to the president Younis and the board. I’ve just asked them to leave it until after the World Cup, and then we can have a chat then,” he said of his future as head coach.
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One of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s finest ever coaches, Arnold took the Central Coast Mariners to their first championship when he edged out Tony Popovic’s Western Sydney Wanderers in the 2013 grand final. He lifted the trophy again with Sydney FC in 2017.
In the year that followed, Arnold was appointed head coach of the Socceroos and went on to mastermind a 2022 FIFA World Cup run that sits beside their 2006 berth as their finest in history – as Popovic’s side watch on from the wings ahead of their round of 32 match on Saturday.
Graham Arnold and current Socceroos coach, Tony Popovic before the A-League Men’s final in 2013
