Arnold Says Iraq Vs Norway Can Shock The World
Iraq vs Norway arrives with Graham Arnold saying his team is capable of “something that will shock the world” as Iraq prepares for its first World Cup since 1986. He took over after Iraq had gone 40 years without qualifying, and the return has already changed the mood around a squad that carried a long qualifying burden.
“It’s been an experience,” Arnold said of the route to the tournament. Iraq reached the World Cup in 2025 after a playoff journey that stretched across 28 months, 21 games and four rounds, and ended with a 117th-minute penalty.
Arnold’s Baghdad start
Arnold accepted the job in May 2025 after Iraq sacked Jesús Casas and almost the entire staff following a 2-1 defeat to Palestine in the third round of the Asian qualifiers. His answer came quickly; his agent told him an offer had arrived and he had three days to respond.
That decision was shaped by what he saw on arrival. “If they had qualified six or 10 years ago I probably wouldn’t have done it but the fact that they hadn’t qualified for 40 years was a great challenge, a great opportunity to make 46 million people proud and happy,” he said. Iraq, he added, is not a small football market: “I was shocked at how much passion there was.”
Pressure inside camp
He also pointed to the scale of the expectation inside the squad. “One of the first things I saw was that when the boys came into camp they were nearly having panic attacks because it was so much pressure,” Arnold said. That is the friction point in Iraq’s return — the country’s long wait created urgency, and the reward now brings a different kind of weight.
Arnold said the football environment runs deep, from public holidays built around major European matches to home support for local clubs that can draw 30,000, 40,000 or 50,000 fans. He also remembered Iraq beating Australia 3-1 in 2007, a result that stayed with him before he took the job and now sits inside a much larger campaign.
World Cup return in 2025
The qualifying path was not straightforward. Iraq’s journey included a 9,000-mile trip to Mexico and conditions as severe as 50C heat, yet it still ended with a place in the 2025 World Cup and a landing in Chicago for the team’s first appearance at the tournament since 1986.
For Arnold, the next step is not about revisiting the wait. He has already framed the return plainly: “Now it’s time to show the world what we’ve got.”
