Salman seeks another Singapore lift
Feb 21, 2006
Colin Pereira/FootballAsia.com
Iraq technical director Akram Salman
SINGAPORE Iraq technical director Akram Salman is hoping that
Singapore will once again prove a springboard to success for his
side as they prepare to take on the Lions in their opening match of
the AFC Asian Cup 2007 qualifiers on Wednesday.
On the last occasion that Salman coached an Iraq side in a
competitive match in Singapore in 1984, they captured the Merlion
Cup, beating a South Korean selection in the final of the
eight-team competition.
For Salman, it proved to be the catalyst for one of Iraqs greatest
football achievements - qualification for the 1986 FIFA World
Cup.
I have good memories of Singapore because we won the Merlion Cup
here in 1984, said the Iraq coach.
For us it was the first step in our qualification for the 1986
World Cup as it provided a good start in our build-up to the
competition.
Our ambition is to repeat that success for Iraqi football and
hopefully Singapore will once again prove to be the starting point
for us.
Salman, who took charge of the team in early 2005 following the
departure of former AFC Coach of the Year Adnan Hamd and led the
team to the gold medal at Decembers West Asian Games, has faced a
number of challenges in getting his side ready for the Asian Cup
qualifiers.
The situation in Iraq has made things very difficult for us and we
have a lot of difficulty getting our players ready to play in this
competition especially with many of them playing football outside
Iraq.
Our team is usually different from match to match and our line-up
has been quite unstable.
But we will be trying to claim the three points on Wednesday and
put ourselves in a good position before our forthcoming matches
against China and Palestine.
Meanwhile Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic is looking forward to
seeing how the South East Asian champions measure up against one of
the continents top teams.
They want three points and we want three points so we shall see
what happens, said the Serbo-Montenegrin.
It is a good test for us to see have far we have progressed in the
past year. We have had good preparation and we have worked well so
now we will find out how we can fare against a team with many good
players.
Overall this is a very interesting group with China, the
champions of East Asia, Iraq, winners of the West Asian Games,
Singapore, the South East Asian champions, and Palestine, who beat
a very good Bahrain side 2-0 last weekend.
The match at the National Stadium in Singapore kicks off at 19:30
hours local time.
