Top coach voices optimism for future of Iraqi soccer club

BAGHDAD - Kadhim Flayeh taps three fingers on his watch. It's the sign for kickoff: one of Iraq's top soccer coaches has lost his voice.

Last year, cancer forced the 57-year-old to have his larynx removed, but it did not stop him coaching Baghdad's Air Force Club youth team.

Sometimes he communicates using an electro-larynx, a small device whose vibrations produce a synthetic voice.