Karim Saddam Menshid (; born 26 May 1960) is an Iraqi

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who played for

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

in the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

.1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico
He also played for many Iraqi clubs : Al Sinaa, Al Jaish, Al-Rasheed,

Al Zawraa Al-Zawra'a Sports Club () is an Iraqi professional sports club based in Utayfia, Karkh District (near Tigris River), Baghdad. Their football team competes in the Iraq Stars League, the top-flight of Iraqi football. Al-Zawra'a have won the most ...

Racing Club Beirut Racing Club (), known as Racing Beirut or simply Racing, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Fouad Chehab Stadium and are primarily supported by the ...

& Al Shorta, Karim Saddam had been Top scorer of Iraqi League for 4 times. He scored unforgettable goal against

UAE The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates, with Abu Dhabi serving as i ...

Qualification which secured Iraq to go throw to the next stage. Karim was born and brought in

Sadr City Sadr City (), formerly known as Al-Thawra () and Saddam City (), is a suburb district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It was built in 1959 by Prime Minister of Iraq, Prime Minister Abd al-Karim Qasim, Abdul Karim Qassim and named Al-Rafidain Distric ...

in Baghdad and started his career with Al-Sinaa in 1979 before moving to Al-Jaish and Al-Rasheed. In 1983, he made his international debut against Egypt and played in the

1984 Olympics The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. On 27 September 1985 in

Taif Taif (, ) is a city and governorate in Mecca Province in Saudi Arabia. Located at an elevation of in the slopes of the Hijaz Mountains, which themselves are part of the Sarat Mountains, the city has a population of 563,282 people in 2022, mak ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

, Karim scored his most important international goal, when he scored in the last seconds of the game against the U.A.E, after coming on as a substitute only a few minutes previously in the 2nd round

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifier, had the score-line stayed the same before Karim had come on and scored, Iraq would have been eliminated but Karim’s goal made the game 2-1 to the Emirates, helping Iraq to a win on the away goals rule after Iraq had beaten the U.A.E 3-2, only a seven days before in Dubai. Iraq later went on to beat Syria and qualified for the World Cup finals in Mexico, where Karim started two games against Belgium and Mexico.

Career statistics

International goals

''Scores and results list Iraq's goal tally first.''

References

External links

FIFA profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saddam, Karim 1960 births Iraqi men's footballers Iraqi expatriate men's footballers Iraq men's international footballers Men's association football forwards 1986 FIFA World Cup players Living people Olympic footballers for Iraq Footballers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Al-Shorta SC players Al-Zawraa SC managers Iraqi football managers Expatriate men's footballers in Lebanon Iraqi expatriate sportspeople in Lebanon Racing Club Beirut players Lebanese Premier League players