Mohammed nets winner for Syria

Syrian midfielder Mohammed Jaja made the most of a rare defensive lapse by Qatar to nod home the match-winner for his team in a crucial encounter in the AFC's under-17 football championship here yesterday.

After a barren first session, Jaja grabbed the chance that came his way as an intended clearance by Qatari defender Bilal Rajab off a throw-in sailed across to him. Unmarked, Rajab nodded in gleefully and the Syrians held on to post a upset over favourites Qatar.

With Uzbekistan winning the earlier game against in this group, Qatar's win has thrown this group wide open as the favourites have ended up on the losing side.

Syria, who started the match with much more purpose in attack were well contained by the quick-tackling Qatari defenders. However, Mohammed Al Sayed, the left striker of Syria was guilty of messing up two good chances within the first quarter. After those two forays, most of the action was restricted to the midfield.

Qatar, who have tasted maximum success in this level, have themselves to blame for this defeat. Their striker Mousa Majid Al Laq missed two good chances in the first session and followed it with another two misses in the second.

With Messad Al Hamad working well in the midfield, Syria did have a lot of problems. But Mousa made their task easier with wayward shooting. After hitting wide a good pass from Al Hamad, Mousa then beat the Syrian goalkeeper, but lost control just before the break.

Syria, who yielded some of their early advantage to the Qataris, came back strongly in the second session. Abdul Razack missed from close range, but 17 minutes into the second half Jaja's header put them ahead.

Qatar's coach Patric Revilly brought in a couple of fresh legs, but Mousa again missed a good chance and then Akram Omar Al Nabi also failed from close range. With those missed chances Qatar's hopes of a good start ended in ruins.

"It was a fantastic win. The boys were assembled just about 20 days and we were short of training. But today's result puts us in a good position," said Syrian coach Abdul Ghani Tatish. "We have started well and we hope to continue our hard work," Tatish added.

Revilly rued the missed chances from his strikers. "It was a tough game no doubt, but we missed some good chances," he said.

"It is hard when you lose the opening game. Now our next match against Japan is like a final for us. We should improve," Revilly added.