As part of the segment of The National's Football in Times of Crisis series focusing on Iraq, Ahmed Rizvi picks the five best players ever to emerge from the country.
Younus Mahmoud
Iraq’s most capped player with 139 appearances, Mahmoud is a live wire who leaves it all on the pitch. Captain of the team when Iraq won the 2007 Asian Cup, Mahmoud, who has the map of Iraq tattooed on his arms, scored the winning goal in the final of that tournament against Saudi Arabia. The 32-year-old striker is second on Iraq’s list of all-time goalscorers with 53, eight shy of Hussein Saeed’s tally.
Emmanuel Baba Dawud
Better known as “Ammo” Baba, the late Dawud is a legend of Iraqi football. An ethnic Assyrian Christian, he was a member of Iraq’s first international team and made 17 appearances from 1957-66, scoring 11 times. A prolific goalscorer at club level, he also coached the national team and was one of the few men who openly confronted Uday Hussein, the notorious president of the Iraq Football Association.
FEATURE: Football in times of crisis: Iraq's love of the game refuses to waiver in face of violence
Ahmed Radhi
Widely regarded as Iraq’s best player of all-time, Radhi had a phenomenal goalscoring record at international level, netting 42 times in 73 appearances between 1982-1997. He also scored Iraq’s only goal at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, in the 2-1 defeat to Belgium. After the World Cup, Uruguayan side Nacional made a US$1 million (Dh3.6m at today’s rate) offer to Radhi’s club Al Rasheed for his services, but it was rejected. In 1988, he was voted Asian Footballer of the Year.
Hussein Saeed
A member of Iraq’s “golden generation” of the 1980s, Saeed heads the list of the country’s all-time scorers with 61 goals from 126 matches. The tally puts him at No 14 on the list of the top goalscorers in international football. Saeed spent his entire club career with one team, playing 14 years with Al Talaba.
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Jawan
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Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer
Christopher Celenza,
Reaktion Books
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