Nadhim urges Iraq to remain focused

Captain Mustafa Nadhim has warned reigning champions Iraq that they can ill afford to give AFC U23 Championship semi-final opponents a flying start when the duo meet at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium today.Barring their campaign opening 2-0 defeat of Yemen, Iraq have been forced to come from behind to record a win and a draw against Uzbekistan and Korea Republic respectively during the group stage, before again recovering from going 1-0 down to beat the United Arab Emirates in Saturday’s quarter-final encounter.Having seen Japan register four victories from the four games they have played thus far, Nadhim is adamant that his side must be on their guard against Makoto Teguramori’s charges if they are to progress to the final and guarantee themselves a spot at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.“Japan are a very good side and one of the strongest at the U23 Championship in my opinion,” Nadhim, a member of the Iraq side that win the inaugural AFC U22 Championship in Oman, told the-afc.com.“We didn’t play well at the start against the UAE and committed a few errors which allowed them to take the lead. We should therefore give 100 per cent against Japan and stay focused, as a comeback would be difficult.“We must now remain focused on the game with Japan, who have been to every Olympics since 1996. We can however do that because we too have a good group of players.” The other semi-final will see host nation take on Korea Republic as the four semi-finalists battle it out to claim the three spots on offer at this summer’s Olympic Games in Brazil.