Friday, August 27, 2004

Athens 2004: Coach Adnan Hamad's Comments after Paraguay Match


Johannesburg, by Maithem Al Anbari

Iraqi olympic team's Coach Adnan Hamad accused team's strikers of missing many opportunities and thus led the Iraqi team to loose the match against Paraguay.

"We missed a lot of opportunities, however, Paraguay was better on the day and that's why they won. Now we are going to try and win the bronze medal and should we make it, it will be a great achievement", Hamad told reporters in a press conference after the match

He added that a success of that magnitude will be uplifting for Iraq which faces a difficult situation.

Back to the match Adnan said "My players wanted to win badly, but they were influenced by the stress to win. However, the first goal had a very negative impact on all of them and the stress became even more intense."

Adnan elaborated that the team lacks experience due to the fact that there are no competitions held in Iraq and "We donâ??t have stadiums or facilities and thatâ??s why we are proud for the level of football we have played."

At the end Adnan called on the kidnappers of the Italian journalist to release him. "We want to send a message to those who abducted him. They should let him return to his family. We are all brothers, we are all humans, we donâ??t have anything against the Americans or any other people for that matter, although our country has been destroyed."