'I was so proud of him': Wayne Bennett gushes over friend Graham Arnold's epic World Cup feat with Iraq

NRL supercoach Wayne Bennett couldn't wipe the smile off his face on Thursday when asked about his friend Graham Arnold's latest football achievement.

Arnold stunned the sporting world on Wednesday by coaching Iraq's men's team to the FIFA World Cup, the first time the country has qualified for the tournament in 40 years.

The former Socceroos coach was seen celebrating with his players and even running into the grandstand to celebrate with fans with an Iraq flagged draped around his neck.

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Bennett watched the events from Sydney.

"I sent him a text this morning, I was so proud of him," Bennett smiled when asked about it at his NRL press conference on Thursday.

"I've got no idea how tough that would have been, where he's been and what's been going on.

"He's a great guy. He had their flag there, he was heading towards the crowd I saw on the highlights this morning... I was pleased to see him so happy.

"He took a huge risk to go over there, he thought he could make a difference and thought he could get them into the World Cup, and he's achieved that.

"He's resilient. Nothing would have been tougher than being in a war zone, trying to get a team of men together to compete at their best in a World Cup qualifier, which is pretty much as tough as it gets.

"I'm really proud of him for that and I was so pleased to see him so happy. Coaching has a lot of ups and down in it, he was enjoying the moment and realising what he's done."

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Arnold last year spent some time at South Sydney working with Bennett's players under the guidance of the veteran rugby league coach.

Bennett says Arnold now plans to return to Redfern once he's back in Australia later this month, before taking Iraq to the World Cup later in the year.

"He did a lot of work with Latrell (Mitchell) last year, on his kicking, and Latrell keeps asking when he's coming back," Bennett said.

Arnold ended Iraq's 40-year wait to play in a FIFA World Cup with a 2-1 qualifying victory over Bolivia.

Arnold's men had to battle a challenging preparation that involved various buses and flights due to war in in the Middle East.

In the lead up to the match, the Iraq coach also had to tell supporters outside his side's hotel in Monterrey, Mexico to stop beating their drums so the players could sleep.

Ali Al-Hamadi scored first for Iraq in the 10th minute off the back of a corner.

Hearts were then in mouths when Bolivia's Moisés Paniagua equalised before half-time. The winner for Iraq would come through Aymen Hussein in the 53rd minute before the Middle Eastern nation held off various attacks to book their spot in the World Cup.

Arnold was hoisted into the air by his players, displaying an Iraq flag with the fans as tears came from both sides.

"I've got to give so much thanks to the players, their work ethic, they showed the real Iraqi mentality of fighting and putting their body on the line and that's why we won the game," he said on FIFA+.

"... I am so happy that we've made 46 million people happy, especially with what's going on in the Middle East at the moment, I'm so happy for them."

Iraq is the last of the 48 teams to book a spot in the FIFA World Cup.

It's a remarkable achievement for Arnold, who arrived with Iraq in the third round of qualifying after resigning from his role at the Socceroos.

Iraq ended the match with only 33 per cent of the possession, with 12 per cent in contest and Bolivia holding 55 per cent.

Arnold's men had just three shots on target but made the most of their chances, while Bolivia had an incredible 16 corners to Iraq's two.

Iraq will be in Group I of the World Cup with France, Senegal and Norway.