Iraq speaks out after coach Jesus Cacas was threatened with a beating in the press conference room; Asian Cup 2023 sets a huge record for spectators

Arsenal coach reacts strongly to news of him leading Barca

Coach Xavi recently made it clear that he will leave Barca at the end of this season. From here, there is a lot of information that coach Arteta will succeed Xavi at Barca from the summer of 2024.

"It's fake news. I don't know where it comes from. It's completely false information and it bothers me," the Arsenal captain said at a press conference before the match against Nottingham Forest in round 22 of the Premier League.

In fact, Spanish newspaper Diario Sport said on January 28 that Arteta had informed Arsenal that he was ready to leave Emirates Stadium at the end of the season to return home.

"I can't believe it," Coach Arteta continued when asked about this rumor: "I don't know where it comes from, there is no source, nothing. I think we have to be very careful when posting such personal matters."

The coach's contract with Arsenal runs until the summer of 2025 but the two sides have not opened negotiations to extend it.

Asian Cup 2023 sets huge audience record

The 2023 Asian Cup has set a record for the number of spectators coming to the stadium right at the start of the round of 16. Specifically, 63,753 fans filled Al Bayt Stadium to cheer on the home team Qatar and Palestine, bringing the total audience of the whole tournament to 1.06 million.

The previous record of 1.04 million people was set nearly two decades ago, when the Asian Cup was held in the country of one billion people, China. Of course, the 2023 Asian Cup also has a big advantage when the number of participating teams has increased to 24, 8 more than the 2004 Asian Cup.

However, the increased number of fans from more countries and more matches are not the main reasons for the surge in attendance. The 2019 Asian Cup held in the UAE also had 24 teams participating, but only welcomed a total of 644,307 people to the stadium, an average of 12,633 people per match.

“We knew from the start that the 2023 Asian Cup would be the most accessible and engaging tournament in the history of the competition,” said Asian Football Confederation (AFC) General Secretary Datuk Seri Windsor John. “Football has an undeniable power to unite communities and nowhere is that more evident than in Qatar.”

According to experts, Qatar's admirable facilities play a key role in attracting fans to the stadium. Inheriting the infrastructure that successfully hosted the 2022 World Cup, Qatar offers special experiences to spectators.

“We are delighted to set a record so early in the tournament,” said Jassim Al Jassim, CEO of the Qatar 2023 Asian Cup Organising Committee. “With 11 matches remaining, and the best yet to come, this record will only grow stronger.”

Revealing 5 stars about to be naturalized as Indonesians, can play for Vietnam national team

The Indonesian team is expected to complete the naturalization of 5 players before the match with Vietnam in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

In the goalkeeper position, Indonesia has goalkeeper Maarten Paes. This player is playing for Dallas club in the US Major League Soccer (MLS).

The second player is Jay Idzes in the center back position. He was born in 2000 and is 1m91 tall. Idzes belongs to Venezia club in Serie B.

Indonesia will add two more players who are playing for Heerenveen - Doan Van Hau's old team, Nathan Tjoe-A-On and Thom Haye. Of which, 21-year-old Tjoe-A-On plays for the Dutch team on loan from Swansea City.

The remaining player is Ragnar Oratmangoen of the Forrtuna Sittard club.

These 5 players are rated higher than the 7 naturalized Indonesian players who just played at the 2023 Asian Cup. If he can naturalize all 5 players in time, coach Shin Tae-yong will be able to bring a team consisting entirely of naturalized players in the two matches againstVietnam team.

The first leg will take place at Indonesia's stadium on March 21, and the second leg at My Dinh 5 days later.

Iraq Football Federation speaks out to defend coach Jesus Cacas after being threatened with beating in press conference room

Losing to Jordan and being eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup in the round of 16, coach Jesus Cacas was criticized and threatened with beating by a group of extremist Iraqi reporters at the press conference. In response to the above incident, the Iraqi Football Federation spoke up to defend him.

“We strongly protest what happened in the press conference room regarding coach Jesus Cacas. Those images are more heartbreaking than the story of our Iraqi team being eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup. That is not the image of the Iraqi mainstream press” - The Iraqi Football Federation spoke out to defend coach Jesus Cacas against the actions of the media after the defeat against Jordan on the evening of January 29.

Accordingly, in the first match of the round of 16 on the night of January 29, Iraq lost 2-3 to Jordan in a shameful way when the opponent scored two goals in the final minute of extra time with an advantage and was eliminated from the 2023 Asian Cup.

In the post-match press conference, some Iraqi journalists were aggressive with coach Jesus Casas. According to Marca, this group of media asked difficult questions and some individuals were angry and criticized, even approaching the press conference table to influence coach Casas.

The group also accused the Spanish coach of spending too much time on interviews, thereby not fully focusing on the tournament.

In response to this issue, the Iraqi coach bluntly criticized the Iraqi media group present at the meeting room, pushing the issue to a climax, forcing security forces to intervene. "This has never happened to me before, but no one knows if it will happen again. Some people are not official reporters, just have an Instagram or YouTube account with thousands of followers. That is not professional media people," Mr. Cacas explained about the image that happened during the meeting with international reporters.

Finally, the Spanish coach said he was not worried about his future in leading the Iraqi team and affirmed that the Iraqi team's goal is to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Iraq is in the same group with Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines in the second qualifying round of the 2026 World Cup./.