Birth of the Lions of Mesopotamia

In 1950, the Iraq Football Association became a FIFA member and set about putting together a team for the tour of Turkey. The first to be selected were the Basra-based duo Saeed Easho and Percy Lynsdale of the Basra Port Club. The third player Aram Karam came from the British RAF base in Habbaniya. With the inclusion of the trio, the Baghdad Select XI became Montakhab Al-Iraqi, the Iraqi national side. They were the sons of a former British Army officer, an Eastern Orthodox priest and an Assyrian Levy soldier, who formed Iraq's first-ever national team.