Iraq vs Ukraine Preview & Prediction | Paris 2024 Olympics | Men’s Football | Group Stage
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In what is his sixth stint in charge of either Iraq or the Iraqi U23 side, Radhi Shenaishil leads the Iraqis into the 2024 Summer Olympics in an extremely tough group alongside Argentina, Morocco and Ruslan Rotan’s impressive Ukrainians.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Wednesday 24th July, 2024, UK – 6:00pm / US ET – 1:00pm / US PT – 10:00am
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ON TV: UK – BBC is the main broadcaster while some event will be televised on Eurosport / US – NBC is the main broadcaster while some events will be shown on NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
HOW TO WATCH THE PARIS OLYMPICS ONLINE: UK – BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website & Eurosport Player / US – Events can be streamed on the relevant streaming platforms of NBCSN, CNBC, USA Network and Telemundo
IRAQ PREVIEW: COHESION THE KEY
Like a few sides, most notably Uzbekistan, Iraq are blessed with a squad that has played a lot of football together as they head into the tournament. 16 of their 22-man squad have ten or U23 caps with a further two of the remaining six among their three overage players in captain Saad Natiq and midfielder Ibrahim Bayesh.
Arguably their most important player in the tournament will be 28-year-old forward Aymen Hussein, who has scored 11 goals in 14 games for the Iraq U23 side as well as 27 goals in 76 senior caps. Iraq recently reached the semi-finals of the AFC U23 Championship before losing to Japan but they then defeated Indonesia in the third place playoff.
UKRAINE PREVIEW: CONTINUING UKRAINE’S GOLDEN GENERATION
The Ukrainian senior side, led by former Tottenham Hotspur striker Serhiy Rebrov, recently underperformed at UEFA EURO 2024, despite what is becoming a star studded and impressive squad. From that squad, 24-year-old right-back Maksym Talovierov is their captain for the Olympics but he is the only overage player in the 22-man group.
That does not mean they do not have a lot of exciting talents with Rotan overseeing a lot of their development as U21 coach between 2019 and 2023 before taking charge of Ukrainian Premier League side Oleksandriya. Ukraine’s U21’s are currently on a six-match winning streak, including a 3-2 victory over European champions at that age group England.
IRAQ VS UKRAINE PREDICTION
Within that aforementioned six-match winning streak, Ukraine have been entertaining to watch with a 3-2 win over England in October contributing to them scoring 15 goals in those six matches. Iraq will always stand a chance of posing a threat in this tournament, too, though, with the addition of Aymen Hussein to an already strong and improving U23 setup. Ukraine are favourites for their opener but it could turn it to be quite the entertaining watch for the neutral.
IRAQ VS UKRAINE TIP: UKRAINE TO WIN & OVER 2.5 GOALS
