John sent off as TT beat Iraq

WEST BROMWICH: Stern John scored twice but was then sent off for punching an opponent  yesterday as Trinidad beat Iraq 2-0 in a friendly football international. John, who plays just five miles (eight kilometres) away from the Hawthorns for Birmingham City, was ejected two minutes after his second goal, which was his 48th in 62 appearances for Trinidad. The Iraqis, who have qualified for the Olympics and the Asian Championships, impressed with their neat interpassing and tricks with the ball. But Bernd Stange’s men, who have revived despite the conflict back home, were woefully poor in front of goal. “We’ve had a lot of presents since we got here to England. But today we gave the presents,” Stange said. “We made horrible mistakes. You shouldn’t see such mistakes at international level, never, never.

“It looks very nice in the midfield and passing. They have good skills. But if they want to win the match it’s not good enough. “But I would like to say thank you for all the hospitality,” Stange said. “And to bring some good messages to the world. We’re still alive, we’re playing football and we’re looking forward to the World Cup qualification, Asian Cup, Olympics.” By contrast to the poor shooting of the Iraqis, Trinidad, building up for World Cup qualifying matches against the Dominican Republic in June, took two of their only three chances. Iraq’s well-organised midfield twice put striker Hussam Fawzi clear in front of goal but he shot well wide the first time and then fired straight at Trinidad goalkeeper Clayton Ince. His co-striker, Ahmed Manajid also got clear of the Trinidad defence but couldn’t keep his shot on goal. The Iraqis were punished when Trinidad broke out to take the lead in the 29th minute.

Arnold Dwarika split the defence with a through ball from his own half and sent Jerren Nixon clear. He was challenged as he tried to beat the goalkeeper but the ball rolled to John whose shot was helped into the net by defender Basim Abbass. Iraq’s response was their first shot on target from the lanky Qusai Hashim but Ince dropped down to his left to hold it. Stange’s men appealed for a penalty when a shot from Qusai Munir struck a defender but English referee Mark Halsey turn them down. Iraq went close to levelling early in the second half when Mahdi Karim moved up from right midfield to fire a 25-yard (metre) shot that flew just too high. At the other end, Dwarika almost put Trinidad further ahead when he collected a crossfield pass to volley goalwards from 12 yards (metres). The ball seemed on its way in but Iraqi goalkeeper Saad Nassir acrobatically moved quickly to his right and pushed the ball away at head height with his right hand.

Iraq sliced through the Trinidad defence again and substitute Ali Jawad got clear. But he delayed his shot and finally drove the ball straight at Ince at the near post with team-mates waiting in front of the goal. But it was all over for Iraq when John pounced again in the 66th minute. Dwarika was again the architect with a through ball and John got round the goalkeeper to roll the ball into the empty net. The Birmingham City striker wasn’t on the field for much longer, however. Two minutes after scoring, he felled Emad Aoda with a punch after being fouled and Halsey showed him the red card. Some of  Iraqi players were incensed and ran over to the push the striker before he walked off the field. Although the crowd figure was a disappointing 1,464, the fans made plenty of noise in the 27,000 capacity Hawthorns stadium with the Iraqi followers totally outnumbering the Trinidad supporters, who had a steelband. Security for the match was low key with around 40 regular club stewards on duty backed up by a small group of police.