Zeljko Petrovic has been fired as Iraq national coach. The football association decided on Wednesday during an extraordinary meeting. Petrovic was appointed Iraq’s elector last year after the interim departure of Dick Advocaat. The decision to send Petrovic away comes after the 1-0 defeat to Iran and the 1-1 draw with Lebanon, making qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar an increasingly less realistic option.
Petrovic seemed to gain the confidence of the Iraqi Football Association in January, after his period as interim national coach after the departure of Advocaat. He came in last year as an assistant national coach. A few weeks later, however, it was concluded that further cooperation was not desirable. Due to the disappointing results, Iraq is now four points behind the coveted third place, which entitles the play-offs for a ticket for the World Cup later this year.
The football association of Iraq says in a statement that it is now looking for a local national coach who will take care of the remainder of the World Cup qualifying series. In March Iraq will resume the road towards the final round in Qatar. In addition, it is planned to appoint a committee consisting of trainers, former players and academics. These people need to come up with a solid plan for the future of football in Iraq.
At the beginning of December, Petrovic was eliminated with Iraq in the group stage of the Arab Cup. The national coach caused a stir during that tournament by storming onto the field in the match against Oman (1-0 loss). Petrovic made it clear that Ayman Hussein was not allowed to take over a missed penalty, but that teammate Hasan Abdulkareem had to kick the penalty. “I have also just apologized to the newspaper for the incident with Ayman. I should never do something like that,” Petrovic said in the dressing room afterwards.
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