Dhurgham Ismail

Dhurgham Ismail

Ismail playing for Iraq in 2015.
Personal information
Full name	Dhurgham Ismail Dawoud Al-Quraishi
Date of birth	(1994-05-23) 23 May 1994
Place of birth	Amarah, Maysan, Iraq
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Left back, left winger
Club information
Current team	Çaykur Rizespor
Number	53
Youth career
2009–2010	Naft Maysan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2015	Al Shorta	104	(21)
2015–	Çaykur Rizespor	29	(0)
National team‡
2009–2010	Iraq U-17	8	(1)
2011–2013	Iraq U-20	10	(4)
2011–	Iraq U-23	12	(1)
2013–	Iraq	39	(3)
Honours Representing  Iraq Men's football Asian Games 2014 Incheon Team AFC U-22 Championship Winner 2013 AFC U-22 Championship Team Gulf Cup of Nations Runner-up 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 October 2016. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2016 (UTC)

Dhurgham Ismail Dawoud Al-Quraishi (Arabic: ضرغام إسماعيل داوود القريشي‎‎; born 23 May 1994) is an Iraqi professional footballer who plays as a left back or left winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Çaykur Rizespor and for the Iraq national football team.

Club career

Al Shorta

In 2010, the head secretary of Naft Maysan, Yahia Zghayir, presented Ismail in Baghdad to Muwafaq Hussein, the head coach of Al Shorta, as a young player from Al Sadr City; because it would be easier for him to join the club if he was from Baghdad.^[1] In November 2010, Ismail signed a five-year contract for Al Shorta at the age of 16.^[2]

2010–11

He made his debut in Al Shorta's first match of the 2010–11 Iraqi Premier League, against Al-Karkh SC, on 27 November 2010, where it ended in a 0–0 draw.^[3] In his first season, he quickly made his position in the starting eleven squad with the squad number 13, being picked to start in many games, after the club sold their first choice left back, Ahmad Kadhim Assad, in September 2010.^[4]

He scored his first goal on 9 February 2011, a long-range effort into the top corner against giants Erbil SC, at the 35th minute, in a match that ended in a 3–1 win for Al Shorta.^[5] His cross from the left flank led to the very last goal that club legend Hashim Ridha scored for Al Shorta in a defeat to Ramadi FC, and Ismail scored his second goal on 1 July 2011, against Samarra FC, in a match that ended in another 3–1 win.^[6] This was a crucial win for Al Shorta in the battle to avoid relegation.

Al Shorta ended the 2010–11 season with them being in 8th place in the North Group, escaping relegation by goal difference. Al Shorta's defense, that includes Ismail, have conceded 23 goals in that season.^[7]

2011–12

Ismail was handed the number 3 shirt for the season. Upon earning his starting role in the squad, Ismail had assists in a lot of matches from the 2011–12 Iraqi Premier League, mostly crossing long balls into the penalty area. He also scored two goals in this season: one of them was on 3 March 2012, against Zakho FC, in a 2–0 win for Al Shorta.^[8] The second one was on 19 March 2012, against Al-Hedood, in another 2–0 win.^[9]

Ismail was nominated by the head coach of Al-Zawra'a, Radhi Shenaishil, and the head coach of Al Shorta, Mohammed Tabra, as the left back of the Ideal Team of the Season. Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya's Hussam Kadhim was picked for the position.^[10]

Al Shorta ended the 2011–12 season with them being in 7th place and conceding 37 goals.^[11]

2012–13

The 2012–13 season was the first season for Ismail to achieve a local competition. He scored Al Shorta's only goal against Sulaymaniya FC in Round 9,^[12] a curling shot from the outside of his boot, and also scored against Al-Mina'a SC from a free-kick, Zakho FC, Masafi Al-Wasat, and scored the last goal for Al Shorta in the season, against Talaba SC, on 4 September 2013 which secured the league title for the club, resulting in five goals for Ismail in this season, which was the most he had in one season.^[13]

Al Shorta won their first league shield since the 2002–03 season and their ninth one as a total, just two years after finishing +5 goal difference away from relegation.^[14] They also achieved the 2013 Baghdad Cup, but Ismail wasn't included in the squad due to being on international duty.^[15]

2013–14

Ismail appeared in most matches of the 2013–14 season, where he scored a goal against Duhok SC, Naft Al-Janoob from a penalty and scored two goals against Naft Maysan, which is the first time that he scored two goals in one match for Al Shorta,^[16] and also had two assists. The 2014 AFC Champions League qualifiers was the first international club competition that Ismail participated in; he played the last 23 minutes of the qualifying match which Al Shorta lost by one goal to Kuwait SC. He also started in all of the six games that Al Shorta played in the 2014 AFC Cup.

Al Shorta achieved the Iraqi League for the second time in the row, but were unable to qualify to the 2014 AFC Cup knock-out stage.^[17]

2014–15

In the 2014–15 season, Ismail scored 8 goals, becoming the second top scorer of Al Shorta, below Marwan Hussein at 15 goals. His goals were scored against Najaf FC, Al-Hedood, Baghdad FC, Al-Mina'a SC, Al-Naft and Al-Zawra'a SC.^[13] On 19 February 2015, Ismail captained Al Shorta for the first time in a 3–0 win away at Naft Maysan. He also appeared in 4 matches of the 2015 AFC Cup out of 7 that Al Shorta played, scoring a goal against Taraji Wadi Al-Nes in a match that ended in a 6–2 win for Al-Shorta,^[18] and he had 4 assists in the tournament.^[19][20]

Al Shorta had the 3rd place in the league^[21] and were eliminated from the 2015 AFC Cup Round of 16 by Kuwait SC.^[22]

While Ismail renewed his contract for Al Shorta for one more year,^[23] while offers were presented by Spanish club Girona FC,^[24] Iranian club Persepolis and Turkish club Çaykur Rizespor in July 2015 to sign him.^[25]

Çaykur Rizespor

On 15 August 2015, Ismail transferred from Al Shorta to Çaykur Rizespor, signing a five-year contract to play in the Turkish Süper Lig.^[26] He made his league debut on 19 September 2015, playing as a left midfielder for the full match in a 5–1 win over Antalyaspor.^[27] In his second match, in the Turkish Cup and against Ankara Adliyespor, he played as a left back rather than a midfielder in the match that ended in a 2–0 victory for Rizespor.^[28]

International career

Ismail's first international tournament for the Iraq national U-17 team was the 2009 WAFF U-16 Championship, where Iraq ended in 3rd place, which was Ismail's first international achievement. In the 2010 AFC U-16 Championship, Ismail scored his first international goal, on 27 October 2010, against Kuwait in a 3–0 win for Iraq.^[29][30]

Ismail's first tournament with the Iraq national U-20 team was the 2011 Arab Cup U-20, where Iraq didn't get passed the group stage.^[31]

Although he was not included in the 2012 AFC U-19 Championship squad, Ismail was part of the 2012 Arab Cup U-20, where he scored a goal against Syria, but Iraq eventually finished in the bottom of Group C.^[32]

On 12 January 2013, Ismail made his senior International debut with the number 20, against Yemen, in the 2013 Gulf Cup of Nations group stage, where he scored a debut goal from a free kick.^[33][34] Ismail went on to appear in the semifinal, being subbed in at the 111th minute for Humam Tariq, against Bahrain, and successfully score his penalty kick during the penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw.^[35] He also was subbed in for the final, at the 53rd minute, for Ahmed Yasin Ghani, against the United Arab Emirates, where Iraq lost 1–2 and became runners-up.^[36]

Ismail was included in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup squad, playing as a left back. He was subbed off for Ammar Abdul-Hussein in the first match, against England,^[37] subbed in for Mahdi Kamel, against Egypt,^[38] subbed in at half time for Abdul-Hussein, against Paraguay.^[39] Being subbed in at the 112th minute, Ismail scored his penalty kick during the penalty shoot-out, against South Korea, in the quarterfinal.^[40] He didn't play in the semifinal, where Iraq lost, but he started in the third place match, where they lost 0–3.^[41]

Ismail's first tournament for the Iraq national U-23 team was the 2013 AFC U-22 Championship. He started in all of the six matches that Iraq played, scoring a goal in the first match, against Saudi Arabia, in a match that ended in a 3–1 win for Iraq,^[42] and having an assist against Uzbekistan.^[43] Iraq won the final, against Saudi Arabia, achieving the tournament, which was the first international trophy for Ismail.^[44]

In the 2014 Asian Games, Ismail appeared in 5 matches and missed two.^[45] In all of the matches he played, Ismail didn't play a full game, being subbed off at the 60th minute, against Nepal,^[46] subbed in at the 75th minute, against Kuwait,^[47] subbed in at the 75th minute, against Tajikistan,^[48] subbed off at the 30th minute, against Saudi Arabia,^[49] and subbed in at the 86th minute, against Thailand.^[50]

On 29 December 2014, Ismail was included in Iraq's squad for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, playing as a left back.^[51] He started in all of the six matches they played. Ismail was named Man of the Match in the quarterfinal, against Iran, for creating the attack that led to the second goal for Iraq, by shooting the ball that gets deflected off the keeper and onto Younis Mahmoud's head, who headers it in,^[52] and by scoring Iraq's third goal from a penalty as they drew 3–3 at Canberra Stadium and eventually prevailed 7–6 on a penalty shootout, in which Ismail his kick.^[53] Iraq finished fourth in the tournament after losing for the United Arab Emirates at the third place match 2–3.^[54] Due to his performance, Ismail was included in the Team of the Tournament as the best left back.^[55]

Ismail scored his third goal for the national team on his fourth appearance in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, against Chinese Taipei, at the 18th minute, by a cross from Younis Mahmoud.^[56]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 14 May 2016^[57]

International

As of match played 29 March 2016^[58]

International goals

Scores and results list Iraq's goal tally first.^[58]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 January 2013	Khalifa Sports City Stadium, Isa Town	Yemen	1–0	2–0	2013 Gulf Cup of Nations
2	23 January 2015	Canberra Stadium, Canberra	Iran	3–2	3–3	2015 AFC Asian Cup
3	17 November 2015	National Stadium, Kaohsiung	Chinese Taipei	1–0	2–0	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Individual

• AFC Asian Cup Team of the Tournament: 2015^[59]
• World Soccer's Most Important 500 Players of the Year: 2015^[60]
• FourFourTwo's 50 Best Asian Players of the Year: 2015^[61]
• Al Shorta Player of the Season: 2014–15^[62]
• In the Al Shorta Hall of Fame^[63]

References

Notes

1. ↑ Includes cup competitions such as the Turkish Cup
2. ↑ Includes continental competitions such as Asia and Europe

External links

• Dhurgham Ismail at National-Football-Teams.com
• Profile on soccerway.com
• Profile on FIFA.com
• Profile on rio2016

Iraq squad – 2015 AFC Asian Cup Fourth Place
1 Yaseen 2 A. Ibrahim 3 Bahjat 4 Faez 5 Kasim 6 Adnan 7 Kalaf 8 Meram 9 A. Yasin 10 Mahmoud (c) 11 Tariq 12 Hassan 13 Rashid 14 Shaker 15 Ismail 16 Hussein 17 Abdul-Zahra 18 Sameh 19 Kamel 20 Hameed 21 Abdul-Amir 22 Hosni 23 Salim Coach: Shenaishil

Iraq men's football squad – 2016 Summer Olympics
1 Talib 2 A. Ibrahim 3 Mustafa 4 Nadhim 5 Faez 6 Adnan 7 Ahmad 8 Abdul-Raheem 9 Kamel 10 Hosni 11 Tariq 12 Hameed 13 Karim 14 Natiq 15 Ismail 16 Abdul-Amir (c) 17 Ali Mhawi 18 Attwan Coach: Shahad