Mahmoud Alaswad’s late penalty earned Syria a 1-0 win against Qatar in their AFC U23 Asian Cup Group B match last night in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, Iran and Uzbekistan could not be separated as they played out a goalless draw in their Group C tie on Saturday.
The result took Syria level on three points with United Arab Emirates, who they meet on Tuesday to decide who advances together with defending champions Japan to the quarter-finals.
The match endured a lukewarm start before a lapse in concentration by Mohamed Khaled saw him robbed of possession inside his own box but the Qatari forward recovered to block Muhannad Fadel’s attempt in the 20th minute.
Syria were given another opportunity when Alhashmi Mohialdin’s poor pass out from defence was intercepted by Dahhan but the midfielder’s strike from distance was straight at Qatar custodian Amir Katoul.
Qatar’s only chance of the opening half came in the 33rd minute when Rashid Al-Abdulla used his strength to power into the box but his shot from an acute angle was parried away by Maksim Sarraf.
After the interval, Syria stepped up their intensity with Katoul forced to make a diving save to his right to deny a low Mahmoud Alaswad shot from the edge of the box.
Such was Syria’s dominance of the game that head coach Ilidio Vale tried to get the Qatar midfield up and running by replacing Abdulaziz Hasan and Anas Abweny with Mahdi Almejaba and Jassem Alsharshani just before the hour mark.
Despite the changes, it was Syria who continued to find the openings, with Mohammad Almustafa twice producing curling efforts from inside the box only to see them go agonisingly wide.
The breakthrough finally came in the 85th minute through Alaswad’s penalty after Ayoub Aloui brought down Almustafa in the box, with the Qatari defender also given his marching orders for the foul.
The stalemate against Iran took Uzbekistan up to four points, the same as Korea Republic who defeated Lebanon 4-2 earlier in the day, while Iran are two points adrift.
The teams traded attempts in the early minutes, Mohammad Hosseinnezhad’s curling free-kick was pushed away by Uzbekistan custodian Samandar Muratbaev before his opposite number Mohammad Khalifeh reacted well to get his hands to Nurlan Ibraimov’s fierce strike.
A quick break in the 18th saw Reza Ghandipour using his pace to good effect, managing to fend off his marker to tee up the surging Mehdi Jafari who sliced his effort just wide of the mark.
Jafari had a growing influence on the game as the first half progressed, setting up Ghandipour and Yadegar Rostami but neither managed to get their efforts on target.
Uzbekistan came close to breaking the deadlock seven minutes after the restart when Danial Iri’s weak header from Karimov’s cross was pounced on by Ravshan Khayrullaev whose volley sailed just over the bar.
With the tie still without a breakthrough, Reza Ravankhah and Ravshan Khaydarov made multiple changes in hope of unlocking the game but it made no difference as Iran and Uzbekistan shared the points.
Iran will go into their final Group C fixture against Lebanon in need of a win while Uzbekistan will battle it out with Korea Republic, with both matches to be played on Tuesday.
