Gonzalo Rodriguez gave up his handball career at the age of 22 to focus on becoming a football conditioning coach and, after spells in the Spanish top flight with Valladolid and as Rafa Benitez's trusted conditioner at Liverpool, he has a reputation as being one of the best in the business.
Employed by Qatar's Aspire Academy and working with local club Al Khor, the Spaniard was roped in to assist with Iraq's Asian Cup squad in December when fellow Qatar-based coach Radhi Shenaishel was handed the reigns of the side after Hakeem Shaker was dismissed in the wake of a poor Gulf Cup campaign.
A camp in Dubai preceded the Iraq's arrival in Australia, and after being together for more than a month and a half, the team has emerged as a knockout contender for the Asian Cup title.
"Before we started the tournament the main challenge, I think, was to make a group, a team," Rodriguez said.
"The Gulf Cup was not really good for Iraqi players and also there was some, not to say problems, but something not good inside as they were conceding goals and not making good results."
"So, our main goal was to try to start building again a team and OK we knew we were likely the third team in the group behind Japan and Jordan but we said why can't we try and go through the group stage and we focused really, really hard to beat Jordan in the first game."
"We did it, I think we played well and now we are in the next step and why not, why can't we beat Iran? We played against them two weeks ago in Wollongong and lost 1-0 and missed a penalty but why can't we give a surprise even if they are, of course, the favourites."
Privately many of the side's players credit the work that Rodriguez and his staff have been doing and say they are as fit as they have ever been, even if it was a hard road to travel at times.
"There were two big factors and issues for us – the first was the jetlag, believe me, for the first three, four or five days we were lost. We were awake during the night and sleeping during the day and it was really difficult."
"The second thing was the humidity. It was really strong and hard for our players so we tried to do, after the games, as much recovery strategies as we could do and also we made sure the players drank a lot and took care in their recovery."
"It's not just my opinion but I think everyone in Iraq knows we are now doing a good performance compared to Gulf Cup.
"Why? I don't know, I think it's not just down to the fitness, there are a lot of other things but it's true that the performance now is much better than in the Gulf Cup."
The initial challenge was to get the players up to the demands of tournament play in a short period of time and after doing double sessions in the lead-up the job now is more about management, prevention and recovery.
To that end the players have been using a variety of methods and approaches, including hiring bikes to ride around the suburbs of Canberra after their final group stage match with Palestine on Tuesday.
Rodriguez arrived in his current post of Qatar via a stint with leading Iraqi club side Erbil so he already knew the mentality of the players, which he credits as being a major contributing factor to the side's success.
"I was with the team since the middle of December when we did a training camp in Dubai and after we were in Wollongong and now here so the impact is relative because it hasn't been a long time with the team but I think the players are working really well and really hard," he said.
"The big benefit for the team is that they are really hard workers – all the things I tell them to do, they do it.
"They don't question, they do it, so for me it's a really good thing to have a group of players that are just focused on their work, I can't say about my impact but if the fitness is as good as everybody says it's because they are working really hard in the trainings."
This new found physical strength, allied with the traditional technical ability that Iraqi footballers possess, might just be the edge that the Lions of Mesopotamia need if they are to mount another unlikely title charge.
