World football legends play exhibition match in Basra www.pi-media.co.uk
SPORT I 23
I October 2017
A team of footballing legends including Spain’s Michel Salgado and Inter Milan defender Marco Materazzi beat an Iraqi side 5-4 in an exhibition match in Basra last month. Some 65,000 football-starved spectators in Iraq, which in 2013 became subject to a FIFA ban because of continuing violence, filled
the stadium for the game. The visitors included Argentine Hernan Crespo, Dutch midfielder Edgar Davids, Brazilians Zico and Rivaldo and Portuguese player Deco. Former Real Madrid right-back Salgado said he hoped the match would help people forget for at least
90 minutes “their hard conditions of life”. In the crowded stands amid a sea of Iraqi flags, spectators urged on an Iraqi side that was unable to withstand attacks from players such as the Netherlands’ Patrick Kluivert who hammered home a hat-trick. Around 3,000 members of the security forces were mobilised for the game in the southern port city and Iraqi football stronghold, officials said. In 2013, FIFA banned Iraq from hosting international matches after the death of a football coach killed by security forces and jihadist attacks on venues broadcasting games. The ban was lifted in May, but conditional on the holding of matches in just three stadiums in Iraq, one of which was Basra. “This is a historic day for our city,” said 20-year-old match-goer Mohammed Jaafar. For those wanting to see the team of international superstars, Iraq’s sports ministry reduced the original ticket price of 25,000 Iraqi dinars (about $20) to 10,000 dinars to ensure a full house.
support has enabled forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad to gain an upper hand in the country’s sixyear conflict. Qualification would be a striking achievement for a squad that can’t play at home due to the war and whose members are vetted by the government. Associated Press reported that while the national team is made up of government-approved supporters, at least one player - striker Firas al-
Khatib - was an opposition activist during a period of exile. “This dream will certainly come true and we will reach the World Cup,” said one man interviewed by Syrian television in Latakia. Syria has played its “home” qualification games in Malaysia, a blow for Assad who’s attempting to portray life in territory controlled by his government as returning toward normalcy. www.pi-media.co.uk
War-torn Syria keep historic football dream alive War-torn Syria kept its chances of a first-ever soccer World Cup finals qualification alive after an injury time goal earned it a draw with Iran. Finishing third in its group means Syria now faces a home and away series next month against Australia. If it eventually emerges as the winner, it would enter an intercontinental playoff in November. It took a 93rd-minute goal in Tehran to secure a 2-2 tie with Iran, one of two nations whose
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