Iraq Football Association denies sacking coach Srecko Katanec
Iraq Football Association had denied reports saying that it sacked national team's coach Srecko Katanec after the team’s defeat in the WAFF Championship 2019 final.
Iraq was defeated 1-0 to Bahrain in the final of the ninth WAFF Championship at the Karbala Sports City last week with Isa Moosa scoring the only goal of the game.
After the final, it was reported that Slovenian tactician Katanec will not be continuing as the head coach of the Lions of Mesopotamia with his agent Behrooz Dezhbod claiming that “corrupted people” were attacking and destroying Iraq's national team.
However, a meeting of the Iraq FA officials on Monday seem to have decided against dismissing Katanec with the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Joint-Qualifiers second round fixtures just around the corner.
Soccer Iraq are reporting that though Iraqi officials have not sacked the coach, a meeting will be held with the Slovenian soon “to discuss the amendments that the Iraq FA want to make to his contract.”
Iraq team are in Group C of the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers along with Iran, Bahrain, Hong Kong and Cambodia. The country was recently dealt a blow when FIFA asked them to play their home matches in the qualification campaign at a neutral venue outside of Iraq.
