Iraq Should Be Proud of World Cup Journey, Says Arnold
June 28, 2026 · Global
Graham Arnold praised Iraq's World Cup campaign despite their 5-0 loss to Senegal, stressing the importance of local league strength for the national team.
Coach Graham Arnold stated that Iraq should look back on their World Cup campaign with pride, even though they lost all their matches. Iraq crashed out of the tournament without picking up a single point after suffering a crushing 5-0 defeat to Senegal at Toronto Stadium. Senegal became the first African team to score five goals in one World Cup match after capitalizing on Rebin Sulaka's red card in the 13th minute. Habib Diarra had put Senegal ahead before Sulaka received a red card. Although Senegal did not manage to take advantage of their numerical advantage in the first half, Ismaila Sarr's goal in the 56th minute opened the scoring, followed by two spectacular goals from Pape Gueye and finished by Iliman Ndiaye with a sensational finish. Iraq became the second team to receive a red card and concede a goal in the first 15 minutes of a World Cup match and have now lost all six of their matches in the final, becoming the team with a 100% losing record in the competition. Arnold stated, "Everyone in Iraq should be proud that we made it here and performed very well in two of the three games. In fact, your national team is as strong as your local league. If your local league is not strong, when you face an opponent like this, you will be punished. These players, they have only seen these players on TV. They have never played against players of this quality before. Everything was a shock for them. My job when I first came was to get them through to the World Cup. The miracle happened. It's been a fun journey, the World Cup which was enjoyable, even though the results were not very good. However, hopefully the players will leave here, enjoying the experience of being at the World Cup after 40 years, but also learning from the mistakes. Senegal recorded the biggest win in World Cup history by an African country and their biggest win at a major tournament. However, coach Pape Thiaw saw room for improvement. "Even though we scored five goals, there is still something to improve on," he told reporters. Senegal is expected to face England in the next round.