After the 4th Arabian Gulf Cup the managerial staff was changed and the Iraq Football Association assigned the Croatian manager, Lenko Grčić, as the new manager of the Iraq national football team, Saeed was called up to the national team, for the first time in his career, at the age of 18. He made his debut on 5 September 1976 in a friendly match against Saudi Arabia where they drew 0–0. He continued to play in the youth team because the manager, Miodgard Stankovic, was Yugoslavian, reaching an understanding with Grčić. Iraq achieved the 1977 AFC Youth Championship where Saeed scored the winning goal in the final, from a diving header in the 90th minute, against Iran in a 4–3 victory in Tehran. Saeed was also the top goalscorer of this edition with 9 goals, scoring his first national hat-trick against Afghanistan in Iraq's 5–1 win. The same team represented Iraq in the first edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship in 1977 where they lost 3–1 to the Soviet Union, won 5–1 over Austria with Saeed scoring a hat-trick, and lost 4–0 to Paraguay which knocked them out of the competition.