CHINA DRAWS WITH SYRIA, WORLD CUP DREAMS ALMOST SHATTERED

An injury time goal scored by Ahmed Al Saleh saw Syria hold the China team coached by Marcello Lippi’s team to a 2-2 draw on Tuesday evening.


As a result, China’s hope of qualifying for next year’s World Cup finals is hanging by the thinnest of threads.

China’s Gao Lin and Wu Xi scored in the second half thus putting China in the lead after Mahmoud Al Mawas had scored first for the Syrians from the penalty spot in the 12th minute.

However, it was not to be a win for China as a curling free kick from Al Saleh put the teams on the same level thus ensuring that they shared the points between themselves.

With this result, China now sits six points behindUzbekistan who are third placed. Two games are yet to be played and these two will be getting ready for a showdown sometime in August.

From each of Asia’s two groups, the top two teams will qualify automatically. Following their 2-0 win over Uzbekistan in Tehran on Monday night, Iran has now booked their place in the finals.

The third placed team will enter into a playoff round in order to secure Asia’s remaining half place.

In Tehran, Japan were forced to share points with Iraq. This thus leaves one point separating the three teams atop Group B with only two matches left to go.

Although they only possess a one pint advantage over Australia and Saudi Arabia, Japan continues to lead the team.

Last week saw the Socceroos defeat Bert van Marwijk’s team. At the game, Japan was put in the lead by YuyaOsako just eight minutes into the game after he steered Keisuke Honda’s corner home with a header.

However, after an unfortunate defensive mix up, Mahdi Kamilwent on to level the scores for the Iraqi side.