Sher on Argentinian namesake, Norway possibility and Bolivia
Named after the Albiceleste midfield wizard, Iraq's Aimar Sher talks about his playing style, fan support and what a World Cup would mean.
In the early 2000’s, one would be hard-pressed to find a club side that played more majestic football than Valencia. In the first half of the decade, the Spanish side captured a pair of La Liga titles and reached back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals.
The magician who waved his magic wand and orchestrated the Valencia attack of that era was Pablo Aimar, an Argentinian ace who appeared in the 2002 and 2006 editions of the FIFA World Cup™.
Two decades after the man known as Lionel Messi’s idol appeared at Germany 2006, another Aimar is taking aim at the global finals, Aimar Sher of Iraq. The 23-year-old is part of the Lions of Mesopotamia squad that will be facing Bolivia in the final of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ Play-Off Tournament at Monterrey Stadium.
Speaking with reporters the evening before Iraq’s date with destiny, the affable Sher shared the origin of his famous name.
“It was 2002, the year I was born, Pablo Aimar was one of the best players in the world, he was my father's favourite player,” said Sher. “It was when Valencia won La Liga that year, so my father convinced my mother to name me after him, so of course it's a fun story to have.”
Like the former Albiceleste man, Sher mans the midfield for Iraq, and admits that some of their respective footballing aspects overlap.
“I think you can see quite some similarities in our playing style, comfortable with the ball and this kind of stuff,” said Sher. “But of course he's Messi's idol, so he's not a small player.”
Born in Iraq, Sher spent the majority of his childhood in Sweden and would go on to play in various Swedish youth national teams before electing to represent Iraq. His professional debut came at Swedish side Hammarby and in the years since, he landed at Norwegian outfit Sarpsborg. It is not lost on Sher that should Iraq advance to the World Cup, Norway would be one of their group opponents.
“Of course that would be extremely fun,” said Sher. “I've talked about it a lot with some of my team-mates, but first of all our focus is to win this game, so our focus is on tomorrow.”
The journey for Iraq to this stage has been a grind unlike any other. They played 21 matches in Asian qualifying, including their high-stakes fifth round affair with United Arab Emirates that landed them in the play-off. To be able to repay the support of the Iraqi faithful with a World Cup berth would be priceless.
“I cannot explain it. This country has been through a lot in the last four years and to give them some love in this way would be something I can't explain, so we're ready to give them a lot of love,” said Sher.