Xian: Mahmoud Al Mawas was on target to give Syria a vital 1-0 win in China as the West Asians earned their maiden victory of the third round of qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup at Shanxi Stadium on Thursday.
After a goalless first half, the winger bagged the game’s only goal nine minutes after the restart and despite China’s best efforts, and the backing of a loud and passionate crowd, they were unable to penetrate the visitors’ stout back-line and suffered a major setback to their qualifying campaign.
The result sees China remain without a win in Group A with a trip to Uzbekistan to come on Tuesday, while Syria move onto four points and travel to winless Qatar for their Matchday Four tie.
"Today we had a very tough game but, as we promised the Syrian people, we have achieved a fantastic result," said Syria coach Ayman Alhakim.
"We did a lot of preparations before the game. We anticipated the level of challenge we would face, and organised ourselves accordingly.
"We performed everything in the match successfully, especially in the attacking part. We have scored our first goal in this group, and I hope we can score more in the future, and secure more good results."
The hosts were boosted at kick-off by the news that captain Feng Xiaoting had shaken off illness to start at the heart of defence, while Ren Hang - who had also been a pre-match fitness concern - also made China’s 11.
Visitors Syria welcomed back prolific striker Omar Khribin to the starting line-up although had to do without suspended midfielder Zahir Al Medani.
The opening half hour saw little in the way of chances and a speculative free-kick from Zhang Xizhe with eight minutes remaining of the first period was the first time either goalkeeper was called into action with Ibrahim Alma turning the lofted cross-cum-shot wide.
After the interval, Gao Hongbo brought Jiang Zhipeng on in place of Hwang Bowen, but it was Syria who made the breakthrough on 54 minutes.
Khribin’s long ball up field found the surging Al Mawas and the pacey midfielder touched the ball past the onrushing Gu Cao and fired home into the empty net.
Gao responded by sending Shanghai SIPG star Wu Lei onto the pitch, although it was Syria who continued to look dangerous on the counter with Al Mawas firing narrowly wide again shortly after.
Another forward, Yang Xu, joined the fray and the two substitutes combined to put Yang into the area but his shot was smothered by the alert Syrian rearguard.
With such emphasis on attack, the home side were vulnerable at the back and Syria should have doubled their lead when Al Mawas burst down the right and laid the ball on a plate for Khribin but the striker somehow blazed over from close range.
China persisted in their hunt for a leveller right up to the end of the five additional minutes of stoppage time but the closest they came was when Gao Lin and Yang combined but the latter was unbalanced and could only direct his header wide with Alma out of position.
Shortly after, proceedings were brought to an end with sparking delight for the Syria team on and off the pitch, and a stunned disbelief in the stands.
"Syria hit us on a counter-attack and took advantage of a mistake in our defence line, but my players kept fighting hard till the end, so I thank them for that," said China coach Gao Hongbo. "We have only lost two games out of total of 10, which means we still have our chance of qualifying."
"It is not true that we are losing hope after losing two matches. Our experience tells us that as long as we fight until the last second, we will have opportunities. We are very lucky to reach this phase, and we have to give our appreciation to all our supporters. To be frank, we are among the weaker sides in the 12 teams. In this game we wanted three points so badly, but we we weren't able to achieve it."
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