Officially.. a surprising decision from the coach of the Iraqi national team
Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, the coach of the Iraqi national football team, resigned after spending four months without achieving any victory in the six matches he played in the World Cup qualifiers.
Dutch reports late on Tuesday quoted Advocaat, 74, as saying, "You must reach your conclusions if you do not see an impression."
He added: "Expectations did not match the possibilities," and stressed that the Iraqi team was in a transitional phase.
Advocaat coached the Iraqi national team last August with the aim of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
After four draws and two defeats, the Iraqi team occupies second place from the bottom in its group, ten points behind the second-placed South Korean team, whose owner qualifies directly for the World Cup, but is two points behind the UAE team, which is ranked third, and whose owner is in the playoffs.
The Iraqi team was the seventh team coached by Advocaat, which reached the semi-finals in Euro 2004 with the Dutch national team.
He also led Zenit St Petersburg, Rangers and PSV Eindhoven to win local titles.
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