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Thursday, November 1, 2007
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Nour Sabri was first selected for the Iraqi national team by Adnan Hamad for the WAFF Championship in Amman only a few days after his sixteenth birthday. The youngster had been playing in goal for Al-Khadimiya in the Iraqi first division, helping the Baghdad-based team to 21st place in a 26-team league, however after the team was relegated to the second division after the Iraqi FA shortened the league to 16 teams; Al-Zawraa quickly snatched the player. His displays for both club and the Iraqi Under-17s team earned him a place in the squad for the 2000 Asian Youth Championship in Tehran; where he was on the bench until the final game against Japan, replacing suspended goalkeeper Ahmed Ali. The Japanese attack caused many problems for Nour in the first half, and stumbled early on under a long cross leaving the ball to ricochet around the box in the ensuing melee before falling to Hisato Sato who, unmarked on the six-yard box completely sliced his volley. He was soon in trouble again, this time letting a corner squirm through his grasp after half an hour gone. Ishikawa couldn't react quickly enough at the far post. But Nour who had became better as the game went on, could do nothing about Japan’s equaliser in the 61st minute from a unstoppable header by substitute Yutaka Tahara, he kept Iraq in the game with some great saves later on before Emad Mohammed hit the golden goal winner. Nour has since gone from strength to strength moving to Al-Zawraa after the Asian Youth Championship win in Tehran and winning himself a place in the Iraqi Olympic team under Bernd Stange and is currently Iraq’s No.1 keeper.
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