A-Leagues and Socceroos legend Graham Arnold will now turn his attention to masterminding a World Cup win over Norway after his 10-man Iraq side suffered a 2-0 loss to Venezuela in their final warm-up match.
Fresh off their morale-boosting 1-1 draw with Spain last week, Iraq came into the clash in Illinois aiming to fine-tune their preparations ahead of their World Cup opener with Norway next week.
Playing in front of a healthy local crowd at the SeatGeek Stadium in Illinois, Iraq found themselves a goal down after 17 minutes when midfielder Cristian Cásseres rifled home a loose ball inside the box.
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Whilst the first half that was more open than the A-Leagues coaching great would have liked the Lions of Mesopotamia still created several good chances and were unfortunate not to be level heading into the break.
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That said, the ex-Socceroos Head Coach utilised the break to make five changes as he fine-tuned his side’s set-up ahead of next week’s all important Group I opener with Norway in Boston, Massachusetts.
Despite those half-time changes though Iraq still found themselves 2-0 down just a minute into the second half as Venezuela forced a cheap turnover on the edge of the Iraqi box and ultimately doubled their lead courtesy of a cool finish from Jesús RamÃrez.
More substitutions followed with Iraq eventually replacing all eleven members of their starting eleven however they were dealt a further blow in the 72nd minute when Ali Yousif was shown a straight red card for appearing to stamp on the Venezuelan goalkeeper.
In a relief for Arnold and Co though, Yousif won’t be suspended for the upcoming Group Stage opener.
Iraq kick off their World Cup campaign against a Norway side boasting the likes of Premier League stars Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard on Wednesday, June 17 at 8am (AEST).
Following that clash, Arnie’s men then face 2018 World Cup winners France in Philadelphia on Tuesday, June 23 at 7am (AEST) before rounding out their group stage campaign with a clash against Senegal in Toronto on Saturday, June 27.
**MAIN PICTURE CREDIT: IRAQ NT (Instagram)
