War torn Syria hopes for football glory

New Delhi, October 4: Regardless of how Syria does in its World Cup playoff against Australia, the team has helped football knock fighting out of the headlines for a while in their war-torn country.

The Syrians are potentially four games away from qualifying for the World Cup for the first time, and the journey to their biggest match so far has captured domestic and international attention.

Unable to play on home soil, the Syrians will "host" Australia at Malacca, Malaysia on Thursday (October 5) in the first leg of an Asian playoff.

Australia have their task cut out against Syria

The victor in the two-match series - the return match takes place in Sydney next Tuesday - will take on the fourth-place team from CONCAFAF in November. The winner of that will secure a spot at Russian 2018.

"We have worked so hard in qualification for the World Cup," Syria striker Omar Khribin told The Associated Press.

"The spirit in the team is very good. We know that we still have work to do, but we are ready for whatever happens."

Syria placed third in Group A behind Iran and South Korea in the third round of Asian qualification, losing three of its 10 games.

The top two teams in each group secured direct entry to next year's World Cup leaving the third-place teams - Australia finished behind Japan and Saudi Arabia in its group - vying for an alternative route to Russia.

Syria was regarded as an outsider at the start of the third round of qualification, and just two goals from the first seven games seemed to confirm that perception.

But after starting out as hard to beat and defensive, the Syrian team became more attacking in the latter stages of qualifying.

The return of al-Soma and Al Khatib made a difference to give Syria one of the most dangerous forward lines in Asia, tallying seven goals in its final three games.