Welling United midfielder speaks out for first time about quitting Iraq national team

BY EDMUND BRACK
edmund@slpmedia.co.uk

Yaser Kasim says the project that Warren Feeney is building at Welling United convinced him not to retire completely from football.

The 31-year-old had thought about calling time on his playing career and stepping into his passion for coaching after a trial with National League side Notts County failed to materialise into a permanent move in the summer.

The Iraq-born midfielder hung up his international boots in September but found himself signing for the Wings in the National League South a month later.

“It’s tough work because we haven’t had the best results, but I love it,” Kasim told the South London Press. “There is a good project at Welling. I’m hoping they have me for the long term – good things are happening – I can see the potential.

“It’s a gradual process. I decided that if I was going to continue with football and play at a first-team level, I needed to do it with the right people and relationships.

“I’m hoping to find that at Welling. I can see something flickering where it could become a good club.”

Kasim had spells at Fulham and Spurs as a youngster, where he trained alongside Andros Townsend and Adel Taarabt, but his love for football was developed in the streets of Baghdad.

Growing up in Karrada, Kasim was born a handful of months following the end of the Gulf War in 1991 – Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait, which then leader Saddam Hussein had ordered.

“I was too young to understand the situation in Iraq,” said Kasim. “The Iraqi society was quiet – there wasn’t much freedom of thought because of the dictatorship.

“It was difficult because sanctions were forced on Iraq, which meant money became tight and people became hungry. It must have been difficult for my parents, but I never had that feeling as I was too young.

“Football is our national sport. We’re always outside. I wasn’t in school at that time of my life, so all I had was my friends. We would run outside and kick a football about.

“We would end up taking over street corners or closing off roads for football.”

After leaving Iraq aged six and moving to Jordan, where he got his first taste as a child of school life, Kasim and his family moved to west London.

He became a QPR fan and used football to help him adapt to life more than 2,500 miles away from his original home.

Since turning down a professional deal with Spurs in 2010, Kasim’s career in professional football has taken him from a stint at Brighton to signing for Orebro OK in Sweden and then back to Iraq.

He also became a stalwart for Swindon, turning out 139 times for the Robins from 2013 to 2017.

“Somebody important told me when I was younger that there was going to be more lows than highs in football, but I’m not sure you can exchange this job for anything in the world,” said Kasim.

“I wouldn’t even class it as a job.”

Kasim also pulled on the Iraqi national team shirt 21 times during his career.

A proposed move to Swansea City in 2016 – the first time Kasim looked set to play in the Championship in his career – fell apart.

Still, Kasim was set to be included in the Iraq U23 squad, as one of the three over-age players, for the 2016 Olympic games in Rio.

But after being introduced as a substitute by the manager Karim Farhan, Kasim was taken off 15 minutes later in a warm-up match against Zenit St Petersburg, with the Iraq boss keen to prove a point that he was not match fit.

It was reported at the time that Kasim left the training camp after the match, stopped taking calls from the manager, and subsequently missed out on the chance to play in the Olympics.

Speaking on the matter for the first time publicly, Kasim said: “I can talk about this because I don’t have an inclination about going back.

“I loved putting that shirt on and playing for my country – going back and seeing everything and reintegrating myself in that culture. But my connection is to win football games. If I believe I’m surrounded by people who don’t want to win, I don’t want to waste my time.

“They [Iraq] play players who are connected to people, with the end goal of making more money.

“If I was playing with the team in Olympics, I would have missed the pre-season. Around that time, I was getting attention from clubs higher up the ladder. I didn’t want to waste my time in the Olympics when the players weren’t at it.

“It was unfortunate, because I missed that experience. They played Brazil and drew with them, but there is more to it than just what is happening on the pitch.

“I made the decision to make a move. The more moves you make and the higher you reach [in club football], the less they can try and control you.

“I couldn’t tell the truth at the time. But now I think everybody knows, even in Iraq. Most corrupt countries are run like that.

“If you play, you have to give something back. I don’t bring them any form of money. I take money away from them due to my expenses, if anything.

“I have moved on. You live and you learn. You try to be true, and I’m always true to my actions.”

Kasim, now with the ninth team of his career, has already featured nine times for Welling since joining in October.

“I still love club football,” he added. “I asked one of my older coaches the question: ‘How long does it take for that feeling of loving to kick a football to go away?’ And he told me years. I want to play for all these years and then just stop dead at one point.

“My style of play isn’t one where I need to be as fast as a Michael Owen. I feel young. It feels as though every day is day one again, but this time with a little bit more maturity and experience.

“I’m going all in. I hope I can give Welling the right guidance, my experience, and the right product on the pitch to get the results.”