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Heartbreak in Basra: PH men's football suffers defeat vs Iraq

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David Dizon

ABS-CBN News

<p>(<strong>UPDATED</strong>) The Philippine men&#x27;s national football team suffered 1-0 defeat at the hands of Iraq in the Joint Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 in Basra, early Friday.</p><p>It was a painful loss for the Filipinos, as they denied Iraq repeatedly even with the home squad dominating possession. Veteran goal-keeper Neil Etheridge came up big several times for the Philippines against Iraq&#x27;s relentless offense.</p><p>It wasn&#x27;t until the 83rd minute that Iraq finally got its breakthrough, with Mohanad Ali converting off a pass from Al Ammari to beat Etheridge.</p><p>The result kept Iraq unbeaten in Group F of the Joint Qualifiers, with nine points in three matches played. The Philippines remains with one point from a draw and two losses. </p><p>&quot;Heartbreak in Basra, but we kept it close ahead of next week’s rematch!&quot; the Philippine Football Federation said in a Facebook post.</p><div><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fphifootballfederation%2Fposts%2Fpfbid0EDKty29RRfUuqCR44XPgYaWwvCNcTgUsi3ox69G2uZTAKFyhR5LopnDE6UzFBoFMl&amp;show_text=true&amp;width=500" width="500" height="679" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div><p>The next match will be held the Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila on March 26.</p><p>New coach Tom Saintfiet earlier said the Philippines will be sending a balanced group to the FIFA Qualifiers bannered by team captain Neil Etheridge and veterans Patrick Reichelt, Daisuke Sato, Kevin Ingreso, Jarvey Gayoso, and Amani Aguinaldo.</p><div><a class="fr-strong fr-green" href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/2024/3/4/new-coach-impressed-by-quality-of-pinoy-football-players-1433">READ: New coach impressed by quality of Pinoy football players</a></div>

<p>The Philippine men's national football team suffered defeat at the hands of Iraq in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Basra early Friday. </p>

The Philippine men's national football team suffered defeat at the hands of Iraq in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Basra early Friday.