Montenegrin coach Jelko Petrovic of the Iraqi national football team captured the spotlight in the first round of the Arab Cup yesterday in Qatar when he stormed onto the pitch to prevent his player Ayman Hussein from taking a penalty kick he had previously missed, before apologizing to him in the locker room.
While Iraq was trailing Oman due to a penalty by Salah Al-Yahyai (78) in Group A at Al Janoub Stadium, the "Lions of Mesopotamia" earned a late penalty. Ayman Hussein took the shot in the sixth minute of stoppage time but missed it. As he was preparing to take the penalty again after the referee ordered a re-take due to the Omani goalkeeper moving early on the line, Petrovic bizarrely ran onto the field, requesting young player Hassan Abdul Kareem to take the shot instead.
Abdul Kareem successfully scored, equalizing for Iraq, which had been playing with ten players since the 68th minute after Yasser Qassem was sent off. In the locker room after the match, Petrovic, who took over recently after Dutch coach Dick Advocaat resigned due to poor results in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, was seen apologizing to Hussein.
Petrovic stated in English, standing beside a translator who conveyed his remarks in Arabic to the players, "I made a big mistake. I apologized to the media for Ayman. I feel sorry for Ayman. It's hard to explain how difficult it would have been if he missed the penalty again." The former assistant to Advocaat justified his actions as being in the interest of the team, saying, "Ayman is a professional player, and I appreciate that. I am not satisfied with myself." Iraq will face Bahrain in their next match, which lost its opener to host Qatar 0-1.
