earns

Iraq’s head coach Graham Arnold couldn’t help but pause, smile and wave to the hundreds of Iraqi football fans gathered at Sydney airport to welcome back the Australian after he guided the Arab team to their first FIFA World Cup in 40 years.

Arnold was given a rapturous welcome as the jubilant Iraqis sang, danced to the beat of drums and tambourines, held aloft placards proclaiming their love for the coach and chanted his name as the 62-year-old walked out of the airport on Sunday night.

Fans waved Iraqi and Australian flags as they chanted “Arnie, Arnie, Arnie, oi, oi, oi” while Arnold spoke to local media following his return from Mexico, where his team won the intercontinental playoff final against Bolivia on Tuesday.

The 2-1 victory came during a tumultuous time in Iraq, engulfed in the Middle East conflict that left several players stranded in various parts of the region and threatened to sabotage their campaign for the playoff tournament.

However, Iraq overcame a logistical nightmare and strong South American opposition to mark their return to the global showpiece event for the first time since 1986.

The Lions of Mesopotamia also returned home to a hero’s welcome. Thousands of fans lined the streets in central Baghdad as the players, sitting atop a double-decker bus, celebrated with their compatriots on Saturday.

Arnold was not part of those celebrations but the Iraqi community in Australia ensured the coach didn’t feel left out.

“Crazy, crazy. I didn’t expect this here in Australia. Obviously in Iraq. But it’s incredible,” Arnold told Australian broadcaster SBS as he stood in front of the fans in the terminal.

“First, I want to apologise to everyone in Iraq that I couldn’t go back there to celebrate due to the airspace shutdown.

“Seeing this here is amazing. Thank you very much.

“I’m just very, very proud of the players and what they did, making many Iraqis happy is very important and that was the main thing.”

Reports in Australian media said local Iraqi football fans found out about Arnold’s return flight from Iraq’s Football Association (IFA) and decided to greet him at the airport.

Fans could be seen chanting “One, one, one, Arnold number one” as the coach took in the scenes around him.

Arnold, who formerly coached Australia, took charge of the Iraqi team in May and led them to three wins, three draws and two losses in their World Cup qualification campaign.

The results took Iraq to the fifth and final round of the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) qualification competition, where they beat the United Arab Emirates 3-2 on aggregate in November and secured a place in the FIFA playoff tournament.

Earlier in March, the former Australian international player urged FIFA to postpone Iraq’s playoff final fixture or find a way to ensure the players reached Mexico well ahead of the match as they grappled with the consequences of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

His plea was heard as FIFA arranged a charter flight for the Iraqi squad and support staff, who reached Mexico just over a week ahead of the March 31 final.

Following their win, Arnold was effusive in his praise of the Iraqi players who participated in the match while the war raged on.

“Everything that is going on in the Middle East made it a little bit harder,” Arnold ⁠⁠said after the play-off final.

“I banned social media since the day we got here,” he added. “I did not want them to think of what is going ⁠⁠on in the Middle East because they had to focus ⁠⁠on the job we had here.”

Arnold said qualifying for the World Cup was a major privilege for the players. “Iraq has nothing to lose.”

Iraq will be placed in one of the toughest groups at the World Cup. Their opponents in Group I will be France, Norway and Senegal.

The Middle East team will face Norway in their opening game on June 16 in Boston. Their second fixture will be against 2018 champions France on June 22 in Philadelphia and their final group game against Senegal is four days later in Toronto, Canada.

Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has called Portsmouth winger Millenic Alli into his squad for Tuesday’s friendly against North Macedonia in Dublin [19:45 BST].

The 26-year-old earns his first call-up to the senior squad and took part in training at Abbotstown on Sunday.

Alli began his career in England playing non-league before signing for Exeter City in 2024, catching the eye of Luton Town who spent £1.5 million to bring him to Kenilworth Road.

The Dubliner scored four goals in the final six games of last season, but the Hatters would suffer relegation to League One.

Despite falling out of favour, Alli was picked up on loan by Portsmouth and he has started all 14 games since his arrival at Fratton Park.

He has scored once in the Championship club’s bid to beat the drop and his performances have caught the attention of Hallgrimsson who brings him into the squad with others unavailable for Tuesday.

Midfielder Jack Taylor has left the squad for family reasons, while Sammie Szmodics has returned to Derby County to continue his recovery from a concussion sustained in Thursday’s World Cup play-off semi-final defeat on penalties by the Czech Republic.

That defeat in Prague saw the Republic of Ireland’s hopes of qualifying for this summer’s World Cup come to an end, while North Macedonia were beaten in their semi-final by Denmark, leaving both nations to face each other in a friendly.

UCLA coach Mick Cronin expects his team to embrace lofty expectations that follow the Bruins any time they take the floor during the NCAA tournament.

The program has won an NCAA record 11 national titles and made 19 Final Four appearances.

No. 7-seed UCLA’s (22-11) push for another deep NCAA tournament run begins Friday against No. 10-seed Central Florida (21-11) in Philadelphia in the East Regional. If the Bruins win, they will face the winner of No. 2 Connecticut (29-5) versus No. 15 Furman (22-12).

Cronin was hoping the Bruins, who flew home from the Big Ten tournament in Chicago on Sunday morning, would get a break and open postseason play Friday rather than Thursday. He recalled playing in the American Athletic Conference tournament championship on Sundays and still getting assigned Thursday NCAA tournament games, but Purdue coach Matt Painter told Cronin on Saturday night that he should be in line for a Friday NCAA tournament opener and the forecast proved accurate.

Cronin said the universal UCLA program focus on NCAA tournament success drove his decision to hold forward Tyler Bilodeau and guard Donovan Dent out of a 73-66 Big Ten semifinal loss to Purdue on Saturday night at the United Center. Bilodeau’s injury was a minor knee sprain suffered in the win over Michigan State on Friday, while Dent suffered a minor calf strain early in the game against the Boilermakers. Both are expected to be ready to play Friday.

“Tyler could have played [against Purdue.] You know, Donny could have played. They would have been playing hurt,” Cronin said after the loss to the Boilermakers. “I wouldn’t have played them in a regular season game. I just try to take care of guys.”

The coach said the extra minutes played by Eric Freeny, Xavier Booker, Steven Jamerson II and Brandon Williams will help the Bruins when the full lineup is in place for NCAA tournament games.

He called the team’s effort to push eventual Big Ten champion Purdue valiant, but the games ahead in March simply mean more to the Bruins.

“With all due respect to the Big Ten, you could see how hard our guys are trying to win,” Cronin said. “But our guy are well aware, because they practice under 11 banners that say national championship every day. They warm up under another banner with 19 Final Fours on it. We don’t even have one with conference championships cause there’s 36 or something. There’s so many. So [this] week is what it’s about for us.”

UCLA enters the tournament on a 4-1 streak, looking especially strong since the calendar hit March.

“I was happy with the way we competed,” Cronin said when asked whether he learned anything about his players during a spirited Big Ten tournament run. “… We got talent, we just haven’t always had our mind on defense, which is very rare for teams that I coach. We got great guys. Since March 1 or whenever the heck we played Nebraska, it’s been a noted change in our team, we’ve just got to keep it up. And we’ve got to get some rebounds out of the five spot.

”… We’re at UCLA, no matter who we take the floor against in the NCAA tournament, we’re going to be the ones wearing the baby blues and four letters. So we believe in ourselves.”

UCF is coached by former Duke star Johnny Dawkins. Point guard Themus Fulks is a key leader for the Knights, earning third team All-Big 12 honors after averaging 14.1 points and 6.7 assists per contest during the regular season.

UCF posted top-25 wins over Kansas, Texas Tech and Brigham Young.