The coach is surprised by the recurring muscle strains of the youth national team players.

Coach Saad Hafez expressed his surprise at the recurring muscle strains of the youth national team players during the Asian qualifiers.

The youth team had lost to Turkmenistan with a score of 2-1 in the first round of qualifiers today, Monday.

Hafez stated in a press interview that he saw, "the youth team lacked identity against Turkmenistan, as we did not know what style the team was playing, especially since the Iraqi team did not play with ground passes, and the play was limited to set pieces only, which indicates the team's confusion."

He added that "muscle strains occurred repeatedly with the players in the match, which reveals that the Iraqi team was not well-prepared for the match, despite the training camp the team underwent before the tournament started, but it seems it did not achieve the physical benefit, or perhaps the coach did not select the most prepared players."

The second round of the group competition will be held next Thursday, where the UAE will meet Iraq, and Turkmenistan will face Thailand.