Iraq's World Cup dream continues: decisive goal in 17' of recovery time

Asian Zone qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup officially closed on Tuesday with Iraq’s success over the United Arab Emirates: the 2-1 victory that accrued with plenty of time running out (the winning goal was scored in the 17th′ of stoppage time) promoted the Iraqi national team, which has so far qualified only once for the World Cup, in 1986, to the interconfederal play-offs next spring.

After the 1-1 draw in the first leg, played in Abu Dhabi last Thursday, the two teams faced each other today in Basra, with the Emiratins leading at 52′ thanks to Caio Lucas and Meme’s equalizer at 66′. Continuous interruptions on the field of play led the referee, Japan&#8217s Araki, to award 10′ of recovery time, which was further lengthened when the match director awarded a penalty to the Iraqis: it was 107′ when Al Ammari, a Krakow midfielder, beat Khalid Eisa and gave Iraq a historic victory.

The rainbow dream thus remains alive for a nation that has not experienced the thrill of participating in a World Cup since 1986: in Mexico, then, the Iraqi national team was placed in Group B with Paraguay, Belgium and Mexico, losing all three matches narrowly (1-0 against the Paraguayans and the hosts, 2-1 against the Red Devils) with only Ahmed Radhi signing his name in the list of scorers.

Asian qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup have already rposed directly for the final stage of the rainbow competition Iran, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Jordan, Japan, Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Iraq, on the other hand, will participate in the interconfederal playoffs in March, which will be hosted by Mexico and will feature the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bolivia, New Caledonia and two Central American national teams yet to be determined.