Iraq Edges Bolivia, Takes the Last Spot for the World Cup

By Daniel Feuerstein | Monterrey, MX | March 31st, 2026

The final match of two in the FIFA World Cup Intercontinental Playoffs, as Bolivia, representing CONMEBOL of South America, faced off against Iraq of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) at the Estadio BBVA in Monterrey, Mexico, will battle it out for that final golden ticket to this summer’s World Cup. After an exciting 90 minutes of action and heart-palpitating action, it would be Iraq that would get the victory, and they will join the 48-team field as they defeat Bolivia by a final score of two goals to one.

Game Recap

Iraq would deal the first blow of the match when they earned a corner at the near side. As the ball was delivered and bent toward the middle of the area. Running straight to the ball and delivering a snap header to beat the keeper was Ibrahim Bayesh, who scored to put the Middle Eastern country ahead in the 10th minute. Bolivia found an equalizer to get on the scoreboard. The ball was along the near side, held by Roberto Fernandez. Passed it back toward Ramiro Vaca, who makes a hard pass inside the Iraq area and found Moises Paniagua, and he rips one inside the upper far 90 in the 38th minute.

After the restart began Iraq was looking to get lead back and it was one of those moments that no one expected it, but it did happen as the stadium erupted with a huge roar. The ball was brought up the pitch along the far side. The ball was whipped in just outside the area, running to smash it in on the one-timer was Aymen Hussain and the club representing the AFC is back in the lead in the 53rd minute. Bolivia fought valiantly against Iraq to get the second equalizer, but it never came. Either the shots were missed, blocked or saved by Ahmed Basil.

After the final whistle blew, Iraq officially qualified to their very first World Cup and celebrated in Monterrey and flew back home to prepare for the World Cup this coming June. While it’s a sad day for Bolivia who couldn’t get the job done, they proved that they can be dangerous and they hope to return to this level in the next qualification cycle. This was a heck of a match and now the entire field is set.