MONTERREY, Mexico, March 31 : Iraq grabbed the last available place at the World Cup by beating Bolivia 2-1 in their inter-confederation playoff on Tuesday, sealing their return to the finals after a 40-year absence.
Aymen Hussein steered home a second-half winner to see the Iraqis become the 48th and last team to qualify for the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the U.S.
Ali Al Hamadi handed Iraq a 10th-minute lead at the Monterrey Stadium but Bolivia were level at the break through Moises Paniagua.
Iraq will compete in Group I at the June 11 to July 19 World Cup along with France, Norway and Senegal.
Iraq, the ninth team from Asia to qualify, were quickly out of the blocks and Bolivia goalkeeper Guillermo Viscarra made a fingertip save to push Amir Al Ammari’s curling free kick onto his crossbar.
But from the resultant corner, Al Hamadi, who plays for Luton Town in League One, got ahead of the Bolivia defence to head home the opener.
Bolivia slowly recovered from the shock of the early setback and by the break were deservedly level.
Their equaliser came when Ramiro Vaca’s forward pass, which looked initially to be a shot on goal, found Paniagua, who then had time to turn and slam home the ball from close range.
Iraq went ahead again in the 53rd minute as substitute Marko Farji’s cross found Hussein, who reacted quickest and got ahead of his marker to steer home.
Mohanad Ali had a chance to score a third for Iraq and finish off the game near full time but squandered the opportunity.
Bolivia forced several late corners as they desperately bid to take the game into extra time but Iraq finished the fresher of the two sides.
“I must congratulate the players who played with real Iraqi mentality, fighting and putting their bodies on the line and that’s why we won the game,” said Iraq coach Graham Arnold.
“You’ve got to give full credit to Bolivia, because they played well. And it was just through the great defending from our players, who put their bodies on the line as I said, and we defended the crosses really well. That’s why we won the game.
“I am so happy that we’ve made 46 million people happy and especially with what’s going on in the Middle East at the moment,” added Arnold, who took his native Australia to the round of 16 at the last World Cup in Qatar.
The Iraqis were seeded straight into the playoff decider while Bolivia first had to get past Suriname in Monterrey last Thursday.
Iraq’s only previous World Cup appearance was in Mexico in 1986 where they lost all three group games.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
