By Andrew Warshaw
March 30 – Football may have been forced into the background in war-torn Syria but there was no mistaking the sense of joy after the national team booked a spot in the final phase of Asian World Cup qualifying – despite being thrashed 5-0 by Japan.
Syria have never reached the World Cup finals but finished second in their pool behind the Japanese and go through to the next stage as one of the four best runners-up across the eight Asian qualifying groups.
Syria will now be one of 12 teams drawn into two groups for the third round stage with the top two from each pool qualifying for Russia 2018. “For Syria, this is huge,” coach Fajr Ibrahim was quoted as saying.
The Syrians’ euphoria was in stark contrast to the disappointment of Jordan who had hired experienced English coach Harry Redknapp on a two-game deal. They easily won the first game 8-0 against Bangladesh but were then trounced 5-1 by heavy favourites Australia in a do-or-die showdown for automatic qualification for the next stage.
Redknapp said the country will need to make changes if they ever hoped to qualify for a World Cup for the first time.
“What can you do? The players are the players. I can’t suddenly bring in [Cristiano] Ronaldo or somebody,” said the former West Ham and Tottenham manager. “I’ve enjoyed it apart from today. The whole structure, the set-up needs so much work. We’ve got no analyst, we don’t have anything on the opposition, we don’t have sports scientists.”
The international fixture window was crucial in Asia with the line up for the third round of Asian qualifiers for the 2018 World being finalised as well as the qualifiers and the next round of qualification matches for the Asian Cup UAE 2019. 12 teams went through to the next World Cup qualification round and will play in two groups of six. The top two from each group will qualify for Russia with the two third place teams playing off to meet the qualifiers from CONCACAF in a further qualification play-off.
Japan will be among the favourites to advance to a sixth consecutive World Cup after they went through the eight-match stage without conceding a goal.
And nerves will be eased somewhat in China who scraped through to the final phase with a 2-0 win over Qatar who had already qualified.
China had needed to win and hope other results went their way in order to grab one of the four best runners-up spots. Failure to advance would have been a retrograde step for a country that has poured millions into the domestic game with a string of high-profile foreign imports. China have only ever qualified for one men’s World Cup, in 2002, despite the game enjoying widespread popularity.
The eight group winners and four best second-placed teams that will take their place in the third qualifying round draw are below. These nations also gain qualification to the 2019 Asian Cup:
Group winners:
Group A: Saudi Arabia
Group B: Australia
Group C: Qatar
Group D: Iran
Group E: Japan
Group F: Thailand
Group G: Korea Republic
Group H: Uzbekistan
Best second-placed teams:
- Iraq
- Syria
- 3. United Arab Emirates
- China
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