We never gave up says jubilant Al Jooma

AFC – TASHKENT, Syria coach Mohammad Al Jomaa praised the never-say-die attitude of his players as they once again left it late to secure the result they needed against defending champions Iran and progress to the quarter-finals of the AFC U-16 Championship.

After falling behind to a fifth minute Siavash Haghnazari strike Syria dug in and enjoyed plenty of possession but were struggling to test Mesiam Labaff in the Iran goal.

But Syria, who had scored a 90th minute goal to beat Oman in their last Group B game, struck late again, with Adnan Taki heading home 12 minutes from time to secure the 1-1 draw.

The point was enough to put Syria in second place behind DPR Korea and progress to the knockout stage where they will face hosts Uzbekistan on Monday.

“The match was very hard,” admitted Al Jomaa.

“We already knew that our group was going to be very difficult. There were three other teams that are very strong. We studied them all and worked hard to get to the second round.

“We conceded an early goal after just five minutes but we knew we could score and draw to go through while Iran had to win.

“We always play for the whole 90 minutes, the game finishes when the referee says it is finished. You don’t know when you will get the goal so you must play very hard and focus on all the game.”

The Syrians can now enjoy a well-earned break before contemplating the daunting task of facing hosts Uzbekistan, who had earlier ran riot against Tajikistan to win 8-1 and cement first place in Group A.

“We have three days to study them,” said Al Jomaa of Uzbekistan.

“Sure we know they are very good. We saw their game against Tajikistan and we will prepare for them.

“We know Uzbekistan are playing at home and this is very important match for us. We must play very well and play to win.”

Iran coach Akbar Mohammadi, meanwhile, was left exasperated by his side’s inability to finish chances and kill the game off.

After taking the early lead, a mixture of over cautiousness and profligacy in front of goal resulted in Syria being able to hit them on the counter attack, a blow which Iran were unable to recover from.

“I must apologise about the result. We are the champions of Asia and we did everything we could but unfortunately, though we had enough chances to score, we didn’t because we lost our concentration,” said Akbar.

“It doesn’t matter if you have many chances and do not score because the opponents just needed one chance and they scored.”

Despite the result, Akbar remains confident that the future of Iranian football is bright.

“Some of our players are talented young people,” he said.

“I am sure we will see them in the future in the national team.”