Aymen Hussein explains reasons for draw against Oman

Iraq's captain and striker Aymen Hussein spoke after the disappointing 1-1 draw against Oman in the opening match of the Gulf Cup 27.

Aymen Hussein, who assisted Iraq's only goal scored by his teammate Mohammed Qassim in the 6th minute, said: "The atmosphere and humidity were very high at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium, and the players are not used to these somewhat harsh conditions. We also faced forced injuries at halftime that disrupted our plans, but this is not an excuse for us in front of the fans."

Aymen Hussein added: "We played a fairly good match, especially in the first half. We were the better team and controlled the game, and we should have scored more goals and settled the match early, but we did not take advantage of the chances that came our way."

The match saw several injuries that affected the course of the game, as full-back Mustafa Saadoon and goalscorer Mohammed Qassim were injured, forcing the coaching staff led by Graham Arnold to substitute them at half-time and make unexpected changes.

Injuries occurred on the pitch for both the Iraq and Oman national teams due to high humidity and significant physical effort, which affected the level of the match in the second half, which was below average.

Despite his injury, Aymen Hussein was present and influential, creating the only goal with a precise pass to Mohammed Qassim, reaffirming once again that he is the key pillar in the attack of the Iraq national team, even if he did not score himself this time.

Aymen Hussein concluded his remarks by saying that the national team will work on correcting mistakes before the upcoming match against the Kuwaiti national team, and that a point is better than nothing at the start of the journey.