Baghdad: A press conference was held this Monday afternoon for our national team coach, Jesus Casas, alongside the player Youssef Amin, at the Minawi Pasha Hotel in Basra.
Casas stressed during the press conference: ‘Tomorrow’s confrontation against Vietnam is important because we aspire to win all the points of the matches that we played in the qualifiers, and it is like a match that ends the first stage that we played in the qualifiers, and gives happiness to our fans even though the importance of the match is greater for the competitor because they aspires to qualify through it.’
He added: ‘Playing in Basra on our land and among our fans is a factor of passion for all of our players in their serious desire and dedication in training in order to play the match, and the Iraqi fans will certainly be an influential and important factor for us in the next stage of the qualifiers, as the Iraqi fans love the team very much and in the recent period.’ we awakened the enthusiasm of the Iraqi fans, especially after
winning the first five matches.’
Casas explained: ‘All the players are fully prepared, and there are no injuries within the ranks, although some came to us suffering from minor injuries, but we dealt with them with caution, and we were keen on their readiness to participate, whether in the last confrontation against Indonesia, as well as tomorrow’s confrontation against Vietnam.’
Regarding the enthusiasm that prevails in his battalion, he said: ‘Certainly during my time I enter with enthusiasm, and every match I look for motivation for the players, and even for me personally I look for personal motivations, and I also try to reflect them on the players, and all the matches that we play are important, whether they are friendly or official.
For his part, national team player Youssef Amin confirmed: ‘The national team players are well prepared and excited to meet Vietnam.’
Amin said in the press conference: ‘It is the dream of every player to compete in the World Cup qualifiers with his country’s national te
am, since Iraq has not qualified for the World Cup for many years, so we are preparing well, and are excited to compete against Vietnam.’
He expressed his happiness at returning to Basra and meeting the fans, who give more confidence and passion in playing.
He added: ‘Everyone has a desire to play the match, despite the early qualification, because each of us does not want to miss the opportunity to meet such fans who love their team.’
The coach of the Vietnam national football team, Kim Sang Seng, confirmed that the Iraqi national team is strong, and facing it is difficult.
He said in the press conference for tomorrow’s match in Basra: ‘The Iraqi team is at the top of the group, but we will play to earn points.’
He added: “The Vietnamese team is technically prepared to play the match with a desire to win to continue hope, even though the Iraqi team is playing on its home soil and among its fans, but our ambition is to score points.”
The Vietnam coach continued: ‘We arrived in Basra a few days ago to ad
apt to the hot weather, in addition to the fact that the Iraqi team is tactically strong and has a dangerous striker, Ayman Hussein, and we must be careful.’
Source: National Iraqi News Agency