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In the final round of the U20 Asian Cup group stage, the Iraqi National Youth Football Team and the Syrian National Youth Football Team met each other in the Group A match, which was a make-or-break match for the U20 Asian Cup. After a fierce battle, the two sides shook hands 1-1, and Syria finally left the field.
The top four in Group A are hosts Uzbekistan, Iraq, Syria and Indonesia. In the pre-tournament standings, Uzbekistan leads the way with two consecutive wins, Iraq and Indonesia have one win each, while Syria is the lowest ranked with two consecutive victories. In their historical encounters with Chinese soccer, both Iraq and Syria have caused us pain and become obstacles for our national team to reach the World Cup. However, in recent years, these two teams have taken very different paths. Iraq has always remained at the second-rate level in Asia, while Syria has gradually faded away from its dark horse character. Especially in the last round, Syria defeated Indonesia, which gave them a ray of hope.
In the first half, Syria did not give up on the theoretical possibility of a lineout. They attacked aggressively from the start, trying to press Iraq. However, Syria looked a bit impatient in seizing the chances. After Syria's successive attacks, Iraq was the first to break the deadlock. In the 17th minute, Iraq got a corner kick opportunity, Qasim's header hit the post and bounced out, but Haider then added a score, and at the end of the first half, Syria fell behind 0-1.
In the second half, the two sides changed sides and played again. Syria began to adjust its lineup, while Iraq continued to play solid defense and wait for an opportunity to counterattack. As the game progressed, Syria frequently changed positions, the three lines appeared to be disjointed, the physical quality of the bottleneck appeared. As a result, Iraq gained more opportunities to control the ball and counterattack, almost breaking through the Syrian defense, but the next goal was slow to come. Time passed by, and Syria's hope of getting out of the game became more and more remote. It wasn't until the 95th minute that Syria's header saved the team some face, but the two sides still ended up with a 1-1 draw.
It is unbelievable that Syria, once the national team's arch rivals and Asia's second-rate powerhouse, have fallen into such a situation in just five years. Their adult national team was ranked the lowest in the Top 12, and now the U20 national team is also ranked the lowest in the group stage, even losing to Indonesia. Imagine the public outcry if China had lost to Indonesia. As a matter of fact, infighting has been the theme of Syrian soccer for the past three or four years, and even the Syrian Football Association was once disbanded. In a way, the decline of Syrian soccer is no less fast and bad than that of Chinese soccer, and they have officially bid farewell to Asia's second-rate.
Thankfully, China's U20 men's soccer team did not lose to a weaker team from Southeast Asia, but instead beat defending champion Saudi Arabia 2-0 in the last round to take the initiative to advance. In the final round of matches, China will face Kyrgyzstan, the weakest team in the group, and with a win, they will surely advance to the top eight. A draw or loss will depend on the results of Japan and Saudi Arabia. For Chinese soccer, this is one of the few chances to dominate their destiny. If they manage to finish in the top eight of the Asian Cup, then these youngsters will undoubtedly work wonders.
