The Iraqi government notified the Iraqi Football Association on Monday that it is not affected by a government decision to disband the Iraqi Olympic Committee, hoping to reverse the country's suspension from the World Cup. Soccer's world governing body FIFA said earlier it would suspend Iraq from international competition for a year unless it received confirmation from the Iraqi government by Thursday that its decree dissolving national sports bodies had been annulled. The government published a decree last week saying it was disbanding the Iraqi Olympic Committee and all affiliated sports federations. “We received a letter from the secretary general of the cabinet which clarifies that the decision does not include the sports federations, including the soccer federation,” Hussein Saeed, head of the Iraqi Football Association, told Reuters. “We sent a copy of the letter to FIFA. We don't know whether they will change their mind or not,” he said. The first impact of FIFA's decision could be to annul the World Cup qualifying match that Iraq is due to play against Australia in Brisbane on Sunday. Sports Ministeer Jasem Mohammed Jaafar told Reuters the government had sent clarification to the football federation because the old decision was vague and misinterpreted. FIFA President Sepp Blatter earlier told reporters that if Baghdad did not comply with the world governing body's demand to revoke an immediate order dissolving the IFA it would suspend it from playing internationals, effectively preventing it from qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals. Uruguay beats Turkey In Germany, Turkey lost a Euro 2008 warm-up friendly 3-2 to Uruguay on Sunday as Fatih Terim's Turks suffered a setback. Terim rang the changes, fielding only four of the starters who beat Slovakia 1-0 last Tuesday in another German friendly, to see what his squad have in reserve. Defender Servet Cetin was out injured, as was midfielder Mehmet Aurelio and their absence was keenly felt. Arda Turan opened the scoring with an early header from a cross by Hamit Altintop. But Uruguay fought back and leveled from the spot on the half hour through Luis Suarez after he was upended by keeper Volkan Demirel. A fine freekick from Nihat Kahveci six minutes after the restart put the Turks back in front but goals from Suarez on 78 minutes, and then a Cristian Rodriguez spotkick five minutes from the end after Emre Asik fouled him, completed a Uruguayan turnaround.
