March 26, 2024
Today saw the fourth round of the second stage of the Asian World Cup qualifying grounds, and Fatbear decided to watch the Group F match between the Philippines and Iraq.
Two sides qualify for the third stage of Asian qualification from each of the nine four team groups, and with three wins from three games, Iraq were in pole position to qualify from this group. The Philippines had just one point so were behind the eight-ball in terms of progressing.
The Philippines though, could take encouragement from the reverse fixture in Iraq last week when in front of a crowd of nearly 64,000 in Basra, they only succumbed to an 84th minute goal to lose 0-1. In their two previous matches they had lost 0-2 at home to Vietnam before a 1-1 draw with Indonesia.
Iraq had thumped Indonesia 5-1 in their opening fixture, before overcoming Vietnam in Hanoi with the only goal of the match in the 97th minute.
Philippines Background
Baseball is the most popular sport in the Philippines, and their football side are currently 139th in the FIFA world rankings, behind Lithuania but ahead of Burundi, with their highest ever position being 111th in 2018. Their nickname is Azkals, which apparently means Street Dogs.
They have never qualified for the World Cup finals, and their only appearance in the Asian Cup finals was in 2019 where they lost all three of their group matches, going down to South Korea ( 0-1 ), China ( 0-3 ) and Kyrgyzstan ( 1-3 ).
The Philippines Football League consisted of just 7 sides in 2023 who played each other four times, but the league is being expanded to 15 sides for 2024. The current champions are Kaya Iloilo from Iloilo City, who lost all 6 of their matches in the 2023/24 AFC Champions League group stages. Runners-up Cebu FC played in the second tier AFC Cup and although they beat and drew with Myanmar side Shan United, they were heavily beaten by Australian side MacArthur and Cambodians Phnom Penh Crown in their other four games.
Third placed Stallion Laguna also played in the AFC Cup but despite a surprise 2-2 draw in Malaysia against Terangganu, they lost their 5 other matches, including a 1-9 battering at Central Coast Mariners, and two 2-5 defeats to Bali United.
The current Philippines squad contained one name that should be familiar to followers in the UK, with captain and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge ( 79 caps ) playing for Birmingham City. German born striker/midfielder Patrick Reichelt ( 83 caps ) now plays for Malaysia side Kuala Lumper City. Defender Paul Tabinas ( 2 caps ) plays in the Croatian second division for Vukovar 1991 and midfielder Michael Baldisimo ( 1 caps ) is with US MSL side San Jose Eartquakes. Of the rest of the side that started in Iraq, three play in Thailand, two play in Indonesia, and two play at home in the Philippines.
The coach of The Philippines was Belgian Tom Saintfiet, who has been in charge of over 10 national teams including Zimbabwe, Malta, Trinidad & Tobago, Ethiopia and Gambia. Terry Butcher and Sven-Goran Eriksson both had had spells in charge of The Philippines.
Iraq Background
Iraq are known as the Lions of Mesopotamia and are currently ranked 59th in the FIFA rankings, having been as high as 39th in 2004. The only time they qualified for the World Cup finals was in 1986 in Mexico, where they lost to Paraguay ( 0-1 ), Belgium ( 1-2 ) and Mexico ( 0-1 ).
In contrast they have qualified for the Asian Cup finals on 10 occasions, and won the tournament in 2007, where they beat Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final.
Iraq reached the last 16 in the recent 2023 Asian Cup finals held in Qatar, where they were eliminated in controversial circumstances by Jordan.
Goals in the 95th and 97th minute saw Jordan turn around a 1-2 deficit after Iraq had taken the lead in the 76th minute through Aymen Hussein. After a fine finish to score, Hussein then spent over a minute celebrating his success behind the Jordanian goal, before returning to the pitch to sit down crossed legged to mime eating one handed to mimic the celebration when Jordan had scored earlier in the game. Given this had occurred over a minute after the goal had been scored, the referee deemed this to a mixture of excessive and inappropriate behaviour, and showed Hussein a second yellow card nearly 90 seconds after the ball had hit the net, and Hussein was off.
A lot of fuss was made over the referee, despite representing Australia, being Iranian born and hence inherently biased against Iraq, and the Iraqi media apparently caused a lot of disgraceful trouble in the subsequent press conference. However, the bottom line was the behaviour from Hussein was uncalled for and unnecessary, and he fully deserved the sanction, and if the Iraqi’s needed anyone to blame for their exit, they should have been highly critical of their player rather than looking elsewhere.
In the game itself, Al Naimat had given Jordan the lead in first half added time, capitalising on an Iraqi mistake to run from close to from the half-way line and then produced a delicious chip over the keeper after he had committed himself too early. Natiq headed the equaliser for Iraq mid-way into the second half, before Hussein’s smart strike.
However, spurred by the extra man advantage, Al Arab slotted home after the Iraq keeper could only push a shot into his path, and then Al Rashdan steered a 25 yard shot into the bottom corner past the despairing dive of the Iraqi keeper.
In their group Iraq had beat Indonesia ( 3-1 ), Japan ( 2-1 ) and Vietnam ( 3-2 ), with star striker Aymen Hussein scoring 6 times before his controversial red card.
Iraqi Stars League
The Iraqi Stars League consists of 20 sides, of which nine are based in the capital Baghdad, including the “big 4” of Al-Zawraa ( 14 titles ), Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya ( 7 titles ), Al-Shorta ( 6 titles ) and Al-Talaba ( 5 titles ). The title has only been won by sides outside of Baghdad on 7 occasions since the league started in 1973/74.
Al Shorta are the current champions but were denied a license to compete in the AFC Champions League, so the place went to runners-up and cup-winners Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya. Iraq’s spots in the AFC Cup went to their only two other licenced sides, Al-Zawraa and Al-Kahrabba, who had finished third and fifth respectively.
Despite taking 10 points from their 6 games Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya only finished third in their AFC Champions League group, behind Iranian side Sepahan on head-to-head points and 5 points behind Saudi side Al-Ittihad, who they beat 2-0 at their adopted home for the tournament in Erbil.
Al-Zawraa played their home matches in Basra and finished second in their AFC Cup group behind Bahraini side Al Riffa, but Al-Kahrabba, also having to play in Basra, won their group ahead of Jordanian side Al-Wehdat. In the zonal semi-finals, Al-Kahrabba lost a penalty shoot-out to Al Ahed from the Lebanon but having to play in Muscat, after both sides lost their “home” legs 0-1.
Iraq squad
Striker Aymen Hussein, who plays for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya missed last week’s encounter with the Philippines through suspension following his two yellow cards against Jordan. Al Shorta forward Mohanad Ali scored both the late winners against Vietnam and the Philippines.
Of the other starters last week against the Philippines, four play their football in the Iraqi Stars League, two play in Bahrain whilst midfielder Amir Al-Ammari ( 28 caps ) plays in Sweden for Halmstad and featured in these diaries back in July 2023. Osama Rashid ( 35 caps ) plays for Vizela in Portugal, defender Rebin Sulaka ( 39 caps ) is a team-mate of Jesse Lingard at FC Seoul, and defender Hussein Ali ( 8 caps ) is with Dutch side Heerenveen.
In charge of the Iraq team is Spanish Jesus Casas, who had previously been assistant coach at Watford and the Spain national side.
Matchday Information
There is no regionalisation at the second round of the Asia qualification so sides can be drawn against anyone in the region. The distance from Baghdad to Manila is just shy of 8,000km, and with no direct flights, the travel time with connections in Doha or the UAE will be at least 12 hours.
Today’s match was played in the 12,873 capacity Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, which has an artificial turf surface and a running track, and is where the two previous Philippines home games were played. It has one covered main stand, which the rest of the seats around the stadium being uncovered.
The weather at the 19.00 local time ( 11.00 UK ) kick-off was 33 degrees after a day with some light wind and rain.
Bet365.com, who live streamed the match, made Iraq 3/10 favourites, with The Philippines at 10/1 and the draw 4/1.
Iraq made four changes to the side that started last week at home to The Philippines, with Aymen Hussein as expected coming back into the side, along with midfielder Safaa Hadi ( 37 caps ) who plays his club football in Iran with Tractor, British born midfielder Zidane Iqbal ( 9 ) who is now with FC Utrecht after starting his career with Manchester United and made one brief substitute appearance in the UEFA Champions League, and Saad Natiq ( 37 caps ), who plays for Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya.
The Philippines made three changes to their XI with unattached Dutch born midfielder Justin Baas ( 16 caps ), Jefferson Tabinas ( 13 caps), who plays for Buriram in Thailand and is the brother of Paul, and 18 year old Atletico Madrid Under 19 forward Santiago Rublico coming into the side.
The Philippines were in a light blue kit with dark blue sleeves and shoulders, whilst Iraq were in all white with green trimmings.
Match Report
Iraq started strongly and quickly won the first corner of the match. Taken short, Ali Jasim went on a mazy run but his shot was blocked at the near post.
The first yellow card was produced in the 9th minute when Hussein was too quick for Curran, who had to resort to pulling back the Iraqi dangerman.
Iraq had been playing long balls out of defence, testing the Philippines back four who presumably were thought to have a weakness in dealing with these.
The first sight of the home side as an attacking force came in the 11th minute when a long ball found Rublico in space on the left, and the youngster cut back inside onto his right foot to shoot a few feet over the bar.
Arguably the game’s pivotal moment occurred a minute later when a ball was played into the Philippines area and Jasim hit the deck. The TV replays showed he had not been touched by Paul Tabinas, and Jasim actually had hold of the defender’s shirt before tasting the astroturf, so if anything the foul should have been the other way around. However, Malaysian referee Nasaruddin awarded a penalty, and interestingly failed to show a yellow card for the offence.
It was a shocking decision, and with no VAR to overturn it Hussein stepped forward to take the kick. Keeper Etheridge dived the right way and got a hand to the ball, but the kick was too strong and hit the back of the net. 0-1 after 14 minutes.
Falling behind so early, the dynamic of the match had changed and the Philippines could no longer rely on just defending in numbers. The crowd were still streaming into the ground so some of them may have missed the opening goal.
The Philippines started to have a little bit of possession in their opponent’s half. Gayoso was clattered into by Sulaka, but the delivery from Ingresso was over-hit and went off harmlessly for a goal-kick. Rublico was again found on the left, and this time his shot after cutting back inside flew just wide of the far post with the keeper beaten. The crowd roared every time the host looked like they were attacking.
With 27 minutes played, Paul Tabinas under pressure from Jasim fell over but was able to put the ball out of play for a corner, from which Aguinaldo headed away from Hussein and took a knock for his troubles.
Iraq though didn’t have to wait too long to double their lead. Iqbal played a ball from the right by-line which reached Jasim and his first time shot was bravely blocked by Aguinaldo. It may have been handball, but the rebound fell to Al-Ammari just inside the area who rifled the ball past Etheridge. 0-2 after 30 minutes.
It got worse for the home side when Sulaka’s long ball down the left saw Hussein out-muscle Aguinaldo and then confidently slip the ball past the advancing keeper. 0-3 after 36 minutes.
Iraq smelt blood and were looking for more goals, but Jasim’s delicate chip over the square back-line required Etheridge to come off his line to claim ahead of Hussein.
At the other end, Rublico continued to be the sole threat to the Iraqi goal, again cutting in from the left and this time his 20 yard attempted produced a diving push away from keeper Hachim at the expense of a corner. The corner was played to the near post and flicked out to the edge of the area, but the shot was blazed wildly over the bar.
As the clock moved towards the 45 minute mark, Paul Tabinas played an awful square ball straight to Hussein, but with the keeper well off his line, the 35 yard chip drifted a couple of feet over the bar.
In added on time, Jasim set-off on another jinking run, going across the edge of the 18 yard line, but after running into a dead-end dived for a free-kick. This time the referee wasn’t fooled and play continued. Although the Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya player is undoubtedly skilful, he does seem to be quite happy to cheat.
At the break, Iraq had a commanding lead after having had 69% of the possession. There didn’t appear to be any way back for the Philippines, but in a bad moment for the Tabinas family, both brothers were hooked at half-time. Lyngbo and Rasmussen being the replacements.
The Philippines were nearly caught napping less than 30 seconds into the second period, as Hussein latched onto an onward header to go clear, but with just Etheridge to beat he steered the bouncing ball wide of the post.
Iqbal showed it wasn’t just Jasim who was prone to simulation, ridiculously going down in the penalty area in an hilarious attempt to win a penalty, possibly something Cristiano Ronaldo taught him at Old Trafford.
Perhaps this season’s most obvious yellow card arrived in the 52nd minute when Baas resorted to a shirt pull to stop Jasim racing away from him near the half-way line.
Moments later it seemed Iraq must score their fourth goal but Tahseen, inside the 6 yard area, failed to make a decent contact to a cross from the left and the defence scrambled the ball away from the goal. It was quickly returned to the far post but Hussein was crowded out. When the Philippines attempted to break quickly they lost possession, and Iqbal shot over from 20 yards.
Iqbal’s antics continued, this time making an embarrassing attempted to win a free-kick, hitting the deck at least 2 seconds after prodding the ball away from Rublico and then furiously jesticulating at the referee when a throw-in was awarded.
The Lions then produced their best move of the match as an incisive pass played in Bayesh and his low ball reached Jasim and his effort and the subsequently follow-up were blocked by the home defence.
The reprieve for the Philippines didn’t last long, when a chip from Al-Ammari found Iqbal who produced a lovely left-footed finish from a tight angle, hammering across goal into the far corner. Etheridge was probably grateful he wasn’t in its path. 0-4 after 62 minutes
If it was already game over before, it was now, and Iraq took the opportunity to make all five of their substitutions over a four minute period, and the Philippines also made their final three changes in this period.
If it was a cricket match then Iraq might have been considered to have declared, as virtually all of the intent disappeared from their play. That said, they still managed to notch up a fifth goal, with Tahseen being left totally unmarked inside the 6 yard box to head home Al-Ani’s corner. 0-5 with 79 minutes played.
Errors crept into both sides play. Hadi carelessly gave the ball away to Bugas and when forced wide by Sulaka, the Philippines substitute’s cross was poor and sailed high over the bar, although might actually have been a shot !
Lyngbo then passed straight to Ali who was clear on goal. Rather than play the simple pass for Yasin to tap into the empty net, he selfishly attempted to go around Etheridge, but was forced wide and out of the area. When he was finally able to shoot it was deflected off for a corner. The home side’s defending from corners hadn’t improved, but fortunately for them the ball fizzed across the 6 yard line with no attacker able to connect and score.
Etheridge then caught the habit of passing to the opposition, giving the ball to Yasin, who played in Al-Ani, but his effort was blocked by a covering defender.
The Philippines almost grabbed a consolation goal on 90 minutes, but no-one was on hand to put a finish to Bugas’ low ball across the goal after an incisive pass from Swainston.
The last play of the game was inevitably at the Filipino end as Yasin barged past Aguinaldo but saw his shot blocked by Etheridge at his near post. The keeper then gathered after a header from the corner had gone high in the air and then bounced awkwardly.
The final whistle confirmed Iraq’s qualification for the third qualifying round. The Philippines would need to record unlikely away wins in both Vietnam and Indonesia and hope Iraq beat Indonesia to have any chance of taking the second berth. They would also have to make up an 8 goal swing in the goal difference with Indonesia. The final group matches are scheduled to take place in early June.
Philippines : Etheridge – Curran, P.Tabinas ( Lyngbo ), Aguinaldo, Rontini – Kekkonen, Ingreso ( Swainston ), Baas ( Baldisimo ), J. Tabinas ( Rasmussen ) – Gayoso ( Bugas ), Rublico
Iraq : Hachim – H.Ali, Natiq ( Putros ), Tahseen, Sulaka – Iqbal, Al-Ammari ( Amyn ), Hadi, Bayesh ( Yasin ) – Hussein ( M.Ali ), Jasim ( Al-Ani )
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