Non-League and Academy football writer

Sajad Marashi (most recently the head-coach of step 7 side Kodak (Harrow), in the Middlesex League) is a player who has made the squad for Iraq at the 2025 London Inner City World Cup. I recently spoke to Sajad, as he looked back at last year’s tournament, in which Iraq won the men’s 11-a-side tournament, as well as talking a bit about the 2025 edition of the Lovefootball Inner City World Cup (London), which starts this Saturday morning.

Could you talk me through the run up to the 2024 London Inner City World Cup final, with Iraq?

Sajad: I’ve never experienced something like last year’s Inner City World Cup triumph before, in the sense that everyone in a squad of around 24 players, really pulled their weight. And when it came to the final, anyone could have been selected for the team that started that final, and no one would’ve questioned it.

We started off against Honduras in the group-stages, and there was a bit of complacency, having reached the final the year before, and in that first game we lost 2-1. The Iraq team did play well in that game but, that loss really woke us up, and there was a bit of rotation in the squad. And, the team that played the second game really set the precedent to really dominate and control games, which resulted in us winning all of our subsequent games.

We ended up winning our group, and then on the second day of the tournament we played some even tougher teams. Players like Amir Hadi, was often a super sub in matches last year, in the tournament. He did really well in games, and credit has to go to the management team, including Mohammed Al-Ansare and Yaqub Yousif, in the sense that they rotated the squad, giving everyone the chance to show their worth, which everyone did, and they all did really well throughout.

We played South Africa in the round of 16, winning that match 2-0. We then won 2-1 against a good Mauritius side in the quarter-finals, before then winning 2-0 against Zimbabwe, in the semi-finals. We were 1-0 down to Colombia in the final, and we showed great character to win the game 2-1, with so much quality in that squad, and in front of a good 50 Colombia fans.

That final against a very good Colombia team, started off quite frantic, and after they had taken the lead quite early on, we did manage to turn it around very quickly, to make it 2-1. And, with players like Abdallah Shammari (goalkeeper) organising the defence so efficiently, we always had a chance with such a great squad, to win the tournament.

Who was the toughest team that you faced during the 2024 Inner City World Cup?

Sajad: Colombia were the toughest team that we faced, in what was a very good and passionate final, between two quality teams.

Which national teams would you recommend looking out for at this year’s tournament, in terms of who you think could go far in the tournament? 

Sajad: Mauritius are a team who I think could do a good job at the tournament. I have a soft spot for Poland, because I know PFC Victoria London from non-League football. And as for the teams that could really do well, I would say that the South American nations will all be challengers at this year’s tournament.

What are some of your thoughts on the 2025 Inner City World Cup, with Iraq?

Sajad: I think that we’re in a good place, once again having a squad with a lot of quality in it. I think that the more experienced players need to maybe get the younger players in the squad to understand, that it’s much more difficult to retain a tournament, than it is to win a title. I think that it’s going to be a much more difficult tournament this year, than it has been in the previous two years, and I also think that it’ll be down to how the experienced players manage the vibe in the squad.

We’ve got such a strong squad. We’ve got such good forwards, such as Amir Hadi, Mehdi Fadhil, Ahmed Doukhi, Eddie Simon, Ayub Al-Badri, and Omar Al-Seadi, who is a newer player who has joined the squad, and who has a lot of quality.