Late Syria strike dims China hopes
Print Edition
AHMAD al-Salih’s injury-time free kick dealt China’s already faint World Cup hopes another body blow as it was held 2-2 by Syria in the neutral venue of Malacca City in Malaysia last night.
China had fought back from Syria’s first-half penalty to lead 2-1 before the bearded al-Salih skilfully converted from the edge of the ‘D’ in the third minute of added time.
Marcello Lippi’s China now faces the unlikely prospect of making up six points and four goals in goal-difference to snatch third place and a playoff spot in Group A.
Victory over war-torn Syria would have lifted China’s chances after third-placed Uzbekistan went down 0-2 to Iran. Only the top two teams earn an automatic spot at next year’s World Cup.
Mahmoud al-Mawas put Syria ahead in the 12th minute from the penalty spot — even after he was forced to take his kick twice for an infraction.
China threatened but the clock was ticking down when Zhang Linpeng took a tumble in the box for what looked like a soft penalty, which was converted by Gao Lin on 68 minutes.
Wu Xi earned China a 2-1 lead when he found space to swing his right boot and bury a volley in the 74th, putting his team on course for only its second win in the group.
But Salih, who had complained bitterly about China’s penalty, stepped up in injury time to place his free kick past the despairing dive of goalkeeper Zeng Cheng.
Syria remains fourth in the group, ahead of China which plays Uzbekistan and rock-bottom Qatar in its last two games.
Earlier, Japan stumbled in its bid to qualify for the World Cup after being held 1-1 by Iraq.
Yuya Osaka scored a header early in the match in Tehran, where Iraq plays its home games for security reasons. But Mahdi Kamel equalized in the second half for Iraq, which has already been eliminated from qualifying.
Japan leads Group B by one point ahead of Saudi Arabia and Australia with two games remaining.
Japan will host Australia in August and then play in Saudi Arabia in September.
Also, Ali Mabkhout scored an injury-time goal to give the United Arab Emirates a 1-1 draw in Thailand.
Thailand, which is in last place in the group, got its goal from Mongkol Kraisorn.
On Monday, Sardar Azmoun and Mehdi Taremi were on target as Iran confirmed its spot in the 2018 World Cup finals with a 2-0 victory over Uzbekistan at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
It was Iran’s sixth win from eight matches in Group A which took the table-topper to 20 points, while South Korea is second on 13 ahead of its match against Qatar yesterday.
Carlos Queiroz-coached Iran is still unbeaten in the third stage of qualifying and amazingly has not conceded a single goal during the campaign, thus underlining its credentials as one of Asia’s football giant.
Iran joins host Russia and five-time champion Brazil in securing a place for the tournament which runs from June 14 to July 15, 2018.
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