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June 18th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
The match is officially a sell-out, and will be held in the same stadium as that memorable night against Uruguay, leading many to feel confident ahead of the vital match.
There are key differences to that Uruguay match, Australia will not be eliminated if they lose, at a worst case scenario they’d be facing a playoff series against the other third-placed team and then the fifth placed South American team.
That does not mean that this match is an easy task, far from it, Iraq have proven to be a bogey side for Australia in the past, eliminating them from the 2004 Olympic Games, holding them to two draws as they failed to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games and defeating the Socceroos on their way to winning the 2007 Asian Cup.
In addition Iraq have been a thorn in the side of Australia’s Youth Teams with the under 16s and under 19s both losing to Iraq at their respective Asian Championships.
So with that in mind the players have been cautious in making any outlandish statements despite an impressive 4-0 victory over Jordan one week ago.
Iraq will be missing key players with Ali Rehema and Ala’a Abdul-Zahra both suspended while Younis Mahmout and Nashat Akram have withdrawn from the squad leaving Iraq’s midfield in trouble and that should open the door for Australia.
As a contrast every member of Australia’s 26 man squad will be available for the vital encounter with Holger Osieck making sure to point out that the Australians are not taking this match lightly.
The fans might be a little less guarded with many already making plans for Brazil as a Socceroos buzz fills Sydney ahead of the vital match.
The buzz is so high that NSW Premier, Barry O’Farrell, renamed the Cahill (typically pronounced Car-Hill) Expressway the Tim Cahill (pronounced Kay-Hill) Expressway for the week.
On paper it should be a victory for Australia but matches aren’t won on paper and 32 years of the hurt of missing qualification is still fresh in the mind of every Australian, Australia will not take Iraq lightly for fifth time.
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Source Article from http://www.examiner.com/article/socceroos-face-iraq-for-ticket-to-brazil?cid=rss
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