WORLD CUP : SYRIA ONE STEP TO GO WORLD CUP HISTORIES

Jumat, 06 Oktober 2017

Syria and Australia level as Asia's World Cup qualification finale heads to Sydney

Syria 1-1 Australia: World Cup qualifying play-off – as it happened

The penalty that handed Syria a late draw against Australia in Melaka may have been questionable, but make no mistake: this was not a freak result. Despite leading for most of the game, the Socceroos failed to take control of the Fifa World Cup qualification play-off on Thursday night and Syria’s potent attacking threat ultimately found a deserved equaliser.

Australia now travel to Sydney with a slender advantage - the Socceroos have an away goal and the benefit of a home-ground second leg on Tuesday evening - but Syria remain very much in this tie. Whatever your political opinion, whether the Qasioun Eagles are 2017’s sporting feel-good story or puppets of the Assad regime, they have performed admirably throughout qualification and will feel quietly confident of securing an upset at ANZ Stadium.
For the Socceroos, surprise additions to the line-up Josh Risdon and Matt Jurman both justified their selection, while Aaron Mooy had a commanding performance in midfield. Robbie Kruse scored a goal to celebrate his birthday, but was otherwise underwhelming. Omar Al Soma was easily Syria’s best player, threatening the Australian defence all evening, while late substitute Firas Al Khatib (wearing amusingly short shorts) added attacking impetus.
Thanks for following along, wherever you are in the world. I will be live blogging the Australian A-League season opener tomorrow evening (Australian time), if you’d care to join me again. Until then, thanks for your company and correspondence!

Labels: ASIA, FEATURES SPORTS, FOOTBALL INTERNATIONALE, WORLD CUP

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