The shock of missing out on direct qualification to the World Cup motivates us to win over Iraq

The Romanian national team coach, Elario Cosmin, confirmed that the “Whites” are ready to face Iraq, in the first leg of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, pointing out that the shock of the loss to Qatar will be an incentive for the team’s players to achieve victory and qualify for the next stage of the qualifiers.

Cosmin said in a press conference yesterday, at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium at Al Jazira Club in Abu Dhabi, that: “We are playing one of the matches in the history of UAE football, and we know that we must give everything we have in this match, especially since we will be playing against a very organized team, so we must be fully focused and not be affected by the result of the last match in the playoffs.”

In response to a question about how to deal with cross balls and the danger of Iraq striker Ayman Hussein, he said: “We will focus on stopping all players, not just Ayman Hussein. We have followed the way the Iraqi national team plays, as the small details will decide the match, which is what makes us go into the match fully focused.”

He added: “The Iraqi national team includes a large number of distinguished players in the European leagues, and during this stage of the qualifiers we must avoid making mistakes.”

As for how to overcome the stumble in the Qatar match and its impact on the morale of the players, he said: “Pain is the best teacher in life, and there is no doubt that it was difficult to overcome this loss and wasting our chance to qualify directly for the World Cup. I fully understand the players’ suffering and sadness after this match, but we have complete confidence in the players’ ability to perform well in our matches against Iraq, and perhaps due to my experience and my great age I was able to overcome this loss, and I believe that at the same time it should be an incentive to achieve victory.”

He continued: “The visit of the President of the Football Association, His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, to train the national team is a great moral incentive for the players. He spoke to me directly after our match against Qatar, and there is no doubt that it played a major role in motivating the players.”

Regarding the sale of tickets 3 days before the match, he talked about the UAE fans, and said: “The thing that made us sadder was the audience that we hope to make happy, and we are happy with the continued support of the audience for us, and they are certainly the main engine for us against Iraq.”

For his part, national team player Yahya Nader said that the two confrontations with Iraq are among the most important stations in the history of “Al-Abyad,” stressing the readiness of the players and their desire to make the audience happy by achieving victory.

He explained: “After the last match, the players have a desire to compensate, and we will cling to our chance to qualify for the World Cup. We must deal with the situation with great focus, especially since we will play the return match in Iraq, and the result of the two matches will determine the identity of the qualifier to the next stage.”

Nader stressed that the role of the public will be great, stating: “We thank the public for their constant support for us, and we assure them that we will fight for victory and make them happy.”