Silent Lonesome Man

0-3. This was the result in Doha, Qatar after the game between Iraq and Iran. Nobody could imagine Iraq would sit bottom of the group, even though it was still early on track. This came after a goalless holding in Seoul against South Korea, in which the Iraqis succeeded in blocking Son Heung-min and his teammates. This performance yet failed to inspire Iraq to do better against Iran, the game ended in humiliation. If you are an Iraqi citizen now, the f word will be used to say about Iraq's form. Probably most Iraqis. Again and again, Iraq has become like a typical yo-yo national team, something that is difficult to answer considering the team has achieved some glories for a war-torn nation. Now, it is clear that there is a crisis within Iraq, a national team... that has been on the struggling mode, to find out how to play its football. So, how to answer that? Iraq did qualify for a World Cup - 1986 when the edition was hosted by Mexico. Iraq was eliminated, though its elimination i...

Comparison in the most popular sport in the world appears not wrong overall. If you are a deeply passionate football lover, then football has no border. But even then, that doesn't make sense for me to not think about one of the most absurd comparisons. Yeah, the most popular comparison has to be taken, seriously - South America vs Europe, or... else? That's what I'm talking about. Why is it so absurd? I would rather address the reason for this comparison to be taken. Map of South America. Map of Europe. Already who learnt geography will be very clear about South America and Europe be like. South America is a bit special because it is a subcontinent within a continent: it is part of the Americas, the New World named after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian merchant who discovered the continent. Henceforth the development. This was also what started the complicated situation. When it comes to football, South America has been, rather, treated like a separate continent...

It sounds a bit insane, but let's be honest, Asian countries have the capabilities to create an earthquake in the world's football. Yet, for so long, only two continents have ruled the World Cup: Europe and the Americas - which Western Europe and South America have demonstrated their domination with 12 and 9 titles, respectively. Teams from Central America, North America, the Caribbean, and teams from Eastern, Central, Northern and Southern Europe have also been frequent participants in the World Cup and competing alongside the greatest despite having no teams from these parts to win the World Cup. This leaves only Asia and Africa very few slots: 9,5. Asia has four plus one for playoffs, and Africa has five. The upcoming 2026 World Cup will increase slots from 4,5 to 8, but comparing to Europe and the Americas, that's still nothing to say with. The Americas will have 12 slots, with CONCACAF (composing North, Central and Caribbean America) and CONMEBOL (composing South Ameri...