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“Lions of Mesopotamia” will start the World Championship with a confrontation with their teammates from Holland
Tunisian football legend Zubair Bey has sparked controversy after he claimed that the Iraqi national team is better than its Norwegian counterpart at the moment, despite the latter having many international stars such as Manchester City striker Erling Haaland.
The teams of Iraq and Norway will meet at dawn next Wednesday in the first round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup in the ninth group, which includes the teams of France and Senegal.
Zubair Bey said in statements given to Abu Dhabi Sports TV channels. “The Iraqi team gave us a very good performance against Spain, who are claiming to win the World Cup.”
He added: “It’s true the game was a friendly and there were a lot of changes, but Iraq had the spirit and their core strength in the fighting, organizational and defensive aspects, in addition to the quality of some of the new players.”
“From what we’ve seen so far, Iraq is better than Norway. It’s true that they have Haaland, but what I saw against Morocco makes us believe in the Iraqi team’s ability to beat them.”
Morocco’s national team drew 1-1 with Norway in their latest friendly, which brought them together last Sunday in preparation for the World Cup.
He continued. “After that, everything will be more difficult, and the Iraqi national team will have to look for a point from the matches between Senegal and France to get 4 points, which will guarantee their qualification among the best third-placed teams.”
He concluded. “I see that there is a clear development in the Iraqi national team. It excels in combat and is armed with team spirit. It also has an experienced coach and the results it has achieved in the past period are more than its capabilities.”
