Target is to prepare for World Cup Qualifiers: Jesus Casas

Jesus Casas outlined Iraq's ambitions regarding the King's Cup.

The 49th edition of the King's Cup starts tomorrow in Thailand and the Iraq national football team is all set to kickoff their tournament in the semi-final fixture against India on Thursday at the 700th Anniversary stadium in Chiang Mai city. Iraq are the 70th ranked side in the world and the team is the highest-ranked amongst the four participants. 

There are a good number of players in the current Iraqi side who play their football in top leagues and one of them is former Manchester United U-23 player Zidane Iqbal, who recently got transferred to FC Utrecht in the Netherlands. The team are the early favorites to win the King's Cup.

Iraq’s national team head coach Jesus Casas spoke to the media and shared his thoughts on the fixture.

Thoughts on the tournament

The head coach of Iraq started off the presser by giving his thoughts on the tournament. He said, “This tournament is very important to us. We play teams from our confederations. Last time we played Colombia and Russia which was a different experience.”

Ability of the squad and target in the tournament

When questioned about the ability of the squad and the targets for the tournament, Jesus Casas replied, “The main advantage with the national team is that you can choose from the 23 best players. When we are training we have 50-60 best players and we choose the best 23 out of the same.

For the second question, the objective in football is to win. Igor is very smart in his answers but India is not easy. We have watched their team, (they) are very organized and a lot of times they come to attack. They can play short balls (passes) and long balls. They have players with great ability and our target is to win and prepare for the World Cup Qualifications.”

Objectives for the tournament

The Iraqi coach was quizzed and asked if he came to win the trophy or to participate for which the Spaniard replied in strong words saying, “We have only come to win. If I didn’t want to win I would stay at home.”

Picture Courtesy: Canal Sur