Casas: We faced a strong, organized team

INA - SOURCES

The technical director of the Iraqi national team, Jesus Casas, confirmed on Tuesday that the South Korean team was strong and organized in today's match with Iraq, which had its first loss in the qualifiers after 10 consecutive matches.

"We faced a strong and organized team. We lost for the first time in the qualifiers after 10 matches. We have matches against Jordan and the Sultanate of Oman, in a few weeks, and winning them guarantees us going to the World Cup in the USA by a large percentage," said Casas during the press conference after the South Korea match.
 
He thanked all the players, saying, "They played a great match, and individual mistakes happen in every match, as the Iraqi team faced a strong and organized team. We played a good match against them, and I am proud of my team's performance." 

Regarding the plan of play in the match, Casas said, "We played defensively because we were playing against a strong opponent who had players with individual skills and an offensive style of play, so our idea was to limit the opportunities for the opponent in the attacking third areas."

Casas commented about what the national team striker Ayman Hussein had presented, "he was a fighter and a good striker. We say in Spain (he has a magic wand)." 

"The players in Korea are all good, and I think that player number 10 created some problems for us in the middle of the field, especially in the first half, and our pressure on him was not good. We tried to limit that in the second half of the match," he concluded.