2026 World Cup: Coach Arnold feels Iraq's passion to pass final playoff test after 40-year wait

ZURICH (AP) — Iraq is one game away from soccer’s 2026 World Cup in North America and its veteran coach senses a little pressure and a huge achievement ahead.

For Iraq fans, a 40-year wait through their nation’s troubled modern history to return to the World Cup can end in the last of an epic 21-game qualifying campaign. That is more games than any other team played getting to the tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Iraq just has to win an elimination playoff against Bolivia or Suriname scheduled in March. Bolivia and Suriname meet days earlier — also in Monterrey or Guadalajara.

“If ever a country is desperate to qualify, this is it,” Iraq coach Graham Arnold told The Associated Press in Zurich after FIFA made the playoff pairings draw Thursday.

“I’ve never seen anything like it the other night,” he said, about Iraq scoring a penalty kick in the 17th minute of stoppage time to eliminate the United Arab Emirates in an Asian playoff.

There were 62,000 to see Iraq win 2-1, and 3-2 on aggregate score, inside the stadium in Basra — a city often known for military conflict and turmoil since Iraq last played at the World Cup in 1986.

A video that circulated online showed Arnold behind the team dugout refusing to watch as Amir Al-Ammari prepared to score the decisive spot-kick.

Still, Arnold has seen it and done it before in World Cup qualification.

He guided his native Australia through a win-or-go-home game against Peru in Doha to reach the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. His bold coaching helped Australia win the penalty shootout by sending on substitute goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, who made the decisive save.

“The funny thing is, I didn’t feel this much pressure,” Arnold said of coaching Australia in that playoff, compared to the tension “that I felt the other night.”

“Australia’s my country, and I love Australia so much, but I’ve been given a task that can change a country forever,” he said. “And I’m really enjoying the task.”

Arnold was appointed only in May, deep into a qualifying campaign that started in November 2023, for a job in a nation where soccer is the top sport.

“The people are beautiful people and they’re very passionate about anything that they do,” he said, describing the fans as “sensational.”

“The whole thing of Iraq is a misperception. You know, they had to go through a war, they’re still recovering from that war.”

Baghdad was subjected to “shock and awe” bombing by the United States military in 2003 to begin toppling the regime of Saddam Hussein. For much of the past two decades, FIFA judged Iraq not safe enough to host games in international competitions like the World Cup.

“The roads are busy, everything’s busy. But I’ve been there for five and a half months out of six, and I find it normal,” said Arnold, adding he is unbothered by the heat and dust storms.

Some in Arnold’s squad play for clubs in Europe, including Al-Ammari in Poland, former Manchester United prospect Zidane Iqbal in the Netherlands and German-born Merchas Doski in the Czech Republic. Most are still in Iraq.

“They have carried a lot of pressure and there’s a lot of expectations,” he acknowledged about the mental challenges. “I’ve banned them from social media for the last two camps, from the day they got in, to the day we left. And we haven’t lost a game.”

One more game remains in Mexico, the only country where Iraq played at a World Cup. In 1986, Iraq lost three tight games including to the host nation team.

Iraq wants to return.

“There’s 45 million that live in Iraq and there’s probably about another 10 million live somewhere else, because of the war,” Arnold said. “So there’s a lot of emotion around.”

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Iraq team players pose for a photo before the 2026 World Cup play off second leg match between Iraq and UAE in Basra, Iraq, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

The UEFA Playoff tree is shown on a screen next to Manolo Zubiria, Chief Tournament Officer for the FIFA World Cup 2026, left, and host Melanie Winiger during the FIFA World Cup 2026 playoff draw in Zurich, Switzerland, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (Claudio Thoma/Keystone via AP)

Iraqi's Mohanad Ali, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the 2026 World Cup play off second leg match between Iraq and UAE, in Basra, Iraq, Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqi's head coach Graham Arnold celebrates his team's win during the 2026 World Cup play off second leg soccer match between UAE and Iraq, in Basra, Iraq, Nov. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)