AFC Asian Cup qualifiers: Syria 1-1 Jordan

Tehran- New Jordan coach Hossam Hassan saw his side fight back to secure a 1-1 draw against Syria as the nations shared the points in their AFC Asian Cup Group A qualifying encounter on Thursday evening.

Substitute Burhan Sahyouni gave the Syrians the lead just two minutes after the restart but Mus’ad Allahham leveled with a header in the 57th minute to ensure the Jordanians maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign for a place in the finals in Australia in 2015.

Jordan sit in second place in Group A, two points behind Oman who secured a 2-0 win over Singapore on Wednesday evening. The point was Syria’s first from their opening two games, moving them ahead of the last-placed Singaporeans.

“I believe my side had more chances to win the game,” said Hassan. “I have to confess they were better in the middle of the field, but opportunity-wise we created many more chances.

 “My players were very motivated and that was good for us. I need more time to work with Jordan, since I have joined them for two months only.

 “Jordan have been losing and not getting good results outside home, but today’s result was an end to that run as we have now started getting good results away from home.”

Ahmad Hayel went close to giving the Jordanians the lead just eight minutes into the game when he saw his effort go just over the crossbar while the Syrians had their first effort of the night eight minutes later as Sanharib Malki’s header flew just too high of the target.

But while the teams went in level at halftime, it took just two minutes after the restart for Syria to take the lead as Sahyouni – a replacement during the interval for Ahmad Kallasi – struck with a low right-footed effort.

Just 10 minutes later, however, Hassan’s side were back on level terms when Allahham scored with a fine header to earn Jordan a point.

 “The players’ movement on the pitch in very important and I think that’s the main reason we couldn’t keep our 1-0 lead and conceded the goal in just 10 minutes,” said Syria coach Anas Makhlouf.

 “We are somehow weak on free kicks and you know we conceded from a corner kick. My players failed to concentrate well and they did fail to take good positioning to obstruct Jordanian strikers.

“It’s still early and maybe it’s too difficult to predict which team will qualify to Australia 2015, since Oman, Jordan and Syria are equally strong. I believe the team who use their chances in a better way will book a berth in the 2015 showpiece.”

Source:AFC