After Iraq were eliminated after losing to Jordan, coach Jesus Casas was almost assaulted by reporters in the press conference room. Accordingly, some reporters questioned why the Spanish coach was so focused on answering press interviews, neglecting the preparation process before the match. Then, he was suddenly attacked by some reporters.
A group of Iraqi reporters rushed forward to beat coach Jesus Casas (Screenshot).
Speaking about this, coach Jesus Casas said: "I told them that we won three group stage matches thanks to the pre-match interview. However, they asked me this over and over again and then started threatening me.
The situation started to become chaotic, many of them demanded to suspend the press conference, but I said no because there were still many international reporters who wanted to ask questions."
The Iraqi Football Federation later defended coach Jesus Casas. The organization announced: "We strongly protest what happened in the press conference room related to coach Jesus Casas.
Coach Jesus Casas strongly criticized the group of reporters who tried to beat him (Photo: AFC).
Those images are more heartbreaking than the Iraqi team being eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup. That is not the image of the Iraqi mainstream press."
Coach Jesus Casas criticized his attackers: "This has never happened to me before. I don't know if it will continue in the future.
Some of them are not mainstream journalists. They just have Instagram or YouTube channels with thousands of followers. They are not professional media people."
Although the Iraqi team was eliminated, coach Jesus Casas is not concerned about the future. He wants to focus on preparing with the West Asian team for the goal of winning a ticket to the 2026 World Cup. In the second qualifying round of this tournament, Iraq is leading with two wins against Indonesia and the Vietnamese team.
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