Saeed was called up from the Iraq national under-17 football team to the reserves team of the Iraq national under-20 football team, where he first participated in the 1975 AFC Youth Championship, in which Iraq shared the title with Iran after they had a goalless match in the final. In the 1976 edition, Saeed was called up by the team's new manager, Miodgard Stankovic, to be part of the first eleven, scoring four goals in Iraq's first match, against Sri Lanka, and becoming the top goalscorer of the tournament with 7 goals. Iraq was knocked out in the quarterfinal, against North Korea.