From the heart of human suffering and tragedies, the Iraqi international star Ayman Hussein made his way to glory, rewriting the history of football in his country, while at the same time wearing the garment of a victim, during the (Mesopotamia Lions) team’s meeting with Norway in the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Hussein scored a historic goal for the Iraqi national team against its Norwegian counterpart, on Tuesday evening, local time, breaking a goal drought for his country in the World Cup finals that had lasted a full 40 years.

The goal of the Iraqi national team striker came in the 39th minute of the match held in the American city of Boston in the first round of the eighth group of the 2026 World Cup, after receiving a perfect cross pass from the left side sent by his colleague Amir Al-Ammari, and Hussein rose to it, directing a wonderful header that landed inside the Norwegian net, and returning to his country the tone of World Cup goals that had been absent since June 8, 1986, when the late star Ahmed Radhi scored the only Iraqi goal in the net. The Belgian during Iraq’s only previous participation in the World Cup in Mexico.

This achievement was not strange for the 30-year-old player, whose name has been linked to the most precious moments of modern Iraqi football. As he was the one who scored the decisive winning goal against the Bolivia national team with a score of 2-1 during the global qualifying round for the World Cup, which took the Mesopotamian Lions to the 2026 World Cup, crowning an arduous journey during which he overcame complex administrative obstacles and hours-long interrogations by border officials upon entering American territory.

Hussein’s uprising in the World Cup takes on inspiring dimensions given the tragedies of his childhood and the scenes of his private life. He experienced the bitterness of loss early after the killing of his father, who was a soldier in the Iraqi army, in 2008 at the hands of Al-Qaeda in the city of Kirkuk when he was only 12 years old. His family’s grief multiplied years later when his older brother was kidnapped without a trace, which prompted him to think about retiring from football permanently to take care of his family, had it not been for the intervention of his mother, who refused to do so and demanded that he continue on the field.

The Iraqi striker proved the validity of the vision of goalkeeper and captain of the Iraqi national team, Jalal Hassan, who had previously confirmed that Hussein’s presence always makes a difference. The Iraqi top scorer demonstrated his great technical value in the strongest tests of his football career within a strong group that includes, in addition to Norway, the teams of France and Senegal, carrying on his shoulders the aspirations of the Iraqi and Arab fans to present an exceptional World Cup version that confirms the status of Arab football in international forums.

But fate was not kind to the Iraqi star at the end of the match, after he scored an own goal against his team in the sixth (last) minute of stoppage time for the match.

From a cross ball from the right side, Norwegian star Erling Haaland met with a header pass from inside the penalty area. Ayman Hussein tried to clear the ball in front of Christian Thorstedt, but the ball accidentally entered his goal, ending the match with a harsh loss for Iraq.

The Iraqi striker became the fourth victim of friendly fire in the 2026 World Cup so far.

Hussein joined Paraguayan Damian Bobadilla, who scored an own goal for the United States national team, which achieved a great 4-1 victory in the fourth group competitions in the tournament.

Swiss Miro Mohem also scored an own goal against his team for the Qatari team, during the two teams’ 1-1 draw in the second group.

Egyptian Mohamed Hani scored the equalizer for the Belgian team against his team, during the “Pharaohs” team’s 1-1 draw with the team nicknamed “The Red Devils” in the seventh group competitions.