Graham Arnold struggles to find friendly match opponent for Iraq national team

Graham Arnold faces challenges in preparing the Iraq national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers fourth round in Asian Zone.

Iraq is grouped with five other teams competing for World Cup tickets — Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, UAE, and Oman. The group draw will take place this week, with only the top two teams qualifying directly.

“We tried to contact Kuwait Football Federation to play a friendly match with Kuwait in September, either in Basra or even in Kuwait,” Arnold stated.

The planned friendly match failed to materialize — Kuwait already has scheduled matches against Vietnam and Indonesia during the same period.