‘Abhorrent behaviour’ as Iraqi journalists confront Asian Cup football coach

DOHA – The Iraq Football Association has condemned the “abhorrent behaviour” of journalists who confronted coach Jesus Casas following the team’s exit in the Asian Cup round of 16 on Jan 29.

Iraq, who had striker and tournament top scorer Aymen Hussein sent off in controversial circumstances late on in the game against Jordan, conceded two goals in stoppage time in a surprise 3-2 loss to their lower-ranked opponents in Doha.

Tempers flared among some Iraqi reporters in the post-game press conference, who pointed and shouted angrily at Casas, and approached him at the front of the room before being ushered out by security.

The “aggressive” journalists have been banned by the Asian Football Confederation on Jan 30.

“It pains me what happened,” the 50-year-old Spaniard, who has been coach of Iraq since November 2022, said of the chaotic scenes.

He added: “It’s important we stay calm and learn from this. It’s difficult to put into words, and it is a sad result that we must work on.”

The Iraq Football Association released a statement in which it expressed its “great dismay” at the “scene that was more painful than the undeserved exit of our team”.

“We denounce the blatant and abhorrent behaviour that occurred against the coach,” the association said, vowing “not to deal with these media personnel who seek to cause chaos”.

“We will follow legal methods to restore the coach’s reputation, and approach the relevant authorities to explain what happened.

“We are taking further steps in order to preserve the image of the national team, and to achieve the goal that we set... which absolutely does not approve of these actions that harmed Iraq and insulted the coach.”

Casas was himself angered in the pre-match press conference on Jan 28 by a question about interviews he has done with Spanish media during the Asian Cup.

Some journalists from Iraq, who won the Asian title in 2007, believe the interviews distracted him from his work and were partly to blame for the defeat.

Casas rubbished that notion, pointing out that his team had won all three of their group games, including beating pre-tournament favourites Japan 2-1.

He did, however, warn “we aren’t favourites” even though he was happy with how their campaign had been going.

“Concerning my future, I’m calm and our goal is to qualify for the 2026 World Cup,” Casas, a former assistant coach to Luis Enrique at Spain’s national side, said after the Jordan loss.

“Anything might happen and I’m very calm.”

Jordan, who held South Korea to a 2-2 draw in the group phase, progressed to the quarter-finals, where they will face a debutant Tajikistan side who are one of the surprise packages of the competition.

Their coach Hussein Ammouta believes his side can go far in this Asian Cup, praising their “strong mentality” following the last-gasp win over Iraq. AFP, REUTERS