Remarkable Syria keep World Cup hopes alive

Dubai: Syria made the play-offs for 2018 World Cup qualification on Tuesday after drawing 2-2 away to Iran.

They finished with better goal difference above fellow play-off contenders Uzbekistan, who were held to a goalless draw at home to South Korea.

Iran were already qualified for Russia 2018 coming into this game and South Korea took the second automatic qualification spot with their draw over the Uzbeks.

Syria took third place to reach the play-offs with their draw, seeing them finish above Uzbekistan, China and Qatar.

China beat Qatar 2-1 away in the Group A result. China would have needed either Syria or Uzbekistan to lose to stand a chance of making the top three on goal difference.

It’s a remarkable feat for the Syrians given the domestic situation in the war-torn country and the fact they were up against the likes of China and Qatar, who have both invested heavily in the game, with the latter set to host the next World Cup in 2022.

In the play-off, Syria will now play Australia, who finished third in Group B behind Japan and Saudi Arabia.

Australia had beaten Thailand 2-1 at home to temporarily go second behind already-qualified Japan on Tuesday. But the Socceroos were then pegged back by Saudi Arabia who later beat Japan 1-0 at home to finish second, pushing the Australians towards the play-off.

The UAE needed to beat Iraq away by a huge margin and hope one of either Australia or Saudi lost their games heavily to creep into the play-offs. But in the end they lost 1-0 to finish fourth ahead of already-eliminated Iraq and Thailand.