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He was
the only Assyrian player who played on the biggest arena in World Soccer
when he was part of The Iraqi National Soccer Team in World Cup '86 in
Mexico. He played two games and had to miss the third game due to a mistaken
identity in a red card sent off.
He
was one the integral parts parts in the Iraq B team that won the
Pan-Arab games against Morocco in 1985, where he scored the only goal of
the final and led the way to Iraq's Gold Medal against Morocco (1 - 0).
He
helped Iraq win the 1988 Gulf Championship in Saudi Arabia. In that year,
he scored Iraq's goal in a famous 1-1 draw against Syria in the 1988 Arab
Championship Final in Jordan , which went into extra-time with Iraq winning
4-3 on penalties.
In
that memorable year, he also crowned his career with another honour of
being on the Iraqi Olympic team in Seoul in 1988.
His
last major appearance on the national arena was in the Arab Cup in 1989
which Iraq won.
He was known for his tenacity
and attacking threat which he used to take the Iraqi National team to new
grounds, where he was part of the Iraqi "golden team" of the 1980s that made
it to the World Cup of 1986 in Mexico.
Club Carrer
As a teenager, He played with
the youth league team Homentmen, a club that was part of the Nadi Al-Armani
(Armenian Club). At the age of 16, he moved on to the Tammuz Club (Formrly
the Assyrian Athletic Club of Baghdad), a Junior team, where he caught the
eye of the first division Al Amana coach Mustufa Auda. Throughout his youth,
Basil points to Zia Isaac as the one who coached him into the player he
would become. Basil remained in the Iraq Super League for all his career,
where he went on to play for Al Shabab amd Al Talaba.
National Career
Basil made his deput for Iraqi
on the national level in 1981 against Jordan, in Baghdad. He stayed on the
national team roster and became a big part of the team in the 1985 Arab cup in
Morroco. Coach Anwar Jassam and the IFA choose to go ahead with their B team and
5 players from the A team, that included Basil and Ahmed Radhi. The team went on
to win the tournament, where Basil scored on a header in the final game, giving
Iraq the title.
In the 1986 World Cup
qualification stage, Iraq found itself against Syria on a head-to-head match to
determine the Asian representative. The first game in Damascus ended in a 0-0
tie, but in the second leg, Basil led Iraq pass Syria 3-0, scoring the first
goal in the game and setting up the next two. The win gave Iraq is first
apperance in The World Cup. Iraq did not surpass the group stage round in the
World Cup, and Basil recieved a red card against Belgium.
Basil was forced out of Iraq and
led to his professional retire at the young age of 30 in 1992. He arrived in
Canada where he currently resides and waited for the arrival of offical release
from the Iraq Football Association, but never received them, thus not allowed to
play in the Canadian league.
Basil's own personal favorite
goal was against Al Shorta in the 1981 Iraqi league final. He is quoted as
saying "I dream of the day when I can go back and walk through the facilities at
Al Shabab club in Baghdad." |
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