Syrian national football team’s success despite country being torn apart by war
A COUNTRY savaged by a war that has killed 470,000 people and displaced millions more is the scene of one of sport’s most surprising stories.
A COUNTRY savaged by a war that has killed 470,000 people and displaced millions more is the scene of one of sport’s most inspiring stories.
Despite Syria being embroiled in a civil war for the past five years that has seen Islamic State take control of vast territory, the country’s football team is just one step away from qualifying for the FIFA World Cup.
Having to play their games in neighbouring Oman, Syria have made it through to the final Asian qualifying round by winning all their games apart from two against Asian powerhouse Japan.
When the draw for the final round of qualifiers is announced on Tuesday, the Socceroos could be one of the teams that stand in the way of Syria making their first World Cup.
To put this into context, Syria are 123rd in the FIFA world rankings. Their chances of making of making it through the final round of qualifiers are slim, regardless of who they draw.
But for Syria to even make it through to the final 12 in Asia (and automatically qualify for the 2019 Asian Cup in the process) is already a remarkable achievement for a war torn country.
i dream of a future where soccer is the only war SYRIA decides to fight..retweet if you want the war to end... pic.twitter.com/I5yaR0pBZX
— _ChangingTheWorld (@DompeyWinston) March 28, 2016
THE PLAYERS
Syrian players were used to playing in front of crowds of up to 50,000 before the civil war started in 2011.
The national competition used to be played across Syria, but with almost half the country now controlled by IS, games are now only played in Damascus and Latakia.
When the war started, FIFA stopped Syria from playing games at home, with all international fixtures now played in neighbouring Oman.
“I miss playing in my home country,” said star midfielder Abdelrazaq al Hussain, who plays club football in Lebanon.
Former national coach Fajr Ibrahim hoped Syria would be able to return to playing at home when the situation improved.
“We miss playing at home,” Ibrahim said to the Muscat Daily. “We want to go home. Give us a chance.
“In Syria, football is our first sport. We miss all that. We are sure that sooner than later, the situation will improve and we can play there.
“Before the war, our league matches used to have packed stadiums. There used to be crowds of 35,000 to 50,000. We want to go back to those days.”
He said rather than impact the team, the situation in Syria had been used as motivation.
“The situation gives us motivation to do more and give more. We have to show to the world that we Syrians are good people. We Syrians can fall sick, but we cannot die. And we fight through football,” he told Middle Eastern news outlet Albawaba.
“It’s an unusual situation. The war has not just affected sport, but all life in Syria. But we have shown that we can adapt to the situations and fight.”
SUPER COACH
Despite leading Syria to the final round of qualifiers against all the odds, Fajr Ibrahim was sacked by the Syrian football federation.
As is the case in the Middle Eastern world of football, coaches are quickly sacked and then replaced.
But the name rumoured to be offered the Syrian gig is former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who dubbed himself “The Special One”.
Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea this season in his second stint at the London club despite winning the Premier League last season.
It has been reported the outspoken coach has been offered $3 million to guide Syria through the final round.
A letter from Ramadan to Mourinho offering him the position has been circulated on social media.
“We are getting in touch to make you aware of our interest in making an official offer to sign Jose Mourinho as the new manager of the Syrian national team,” the letter states.
But Syria’s top sports official Muwaffaq Jumaa denied talks would take place, saying the country’s “difficult conditions” did not allow it to hire an international coach.
Of course, Mourinho coming Down Under for a game against the Socceroos would generate a lot of interest among Australian football fans obsessed with the Premier League.
WAR TORN COUNTRY
Syria have never qualified for a FIFA World Cup, with the team disqualified from the 2014 qualifiers after fielding an ineligible player.
And making the plane to Russia in 2018 seems unlucky, with Syria expected to be the ‘easy beats’ of whatever group they are drawn in.
But for the country to still even be playing at international level is a remarkable achievement.
Since protests started in 2011 as part of the Arab Spring, millions of people have been displaced as war ravaged Syria.
Syria’s national wealth, infrastructure and institutions have been “almost obliterated” by the civil war, a recent report states.
Fatalities from the war are about 470,000, The Guardian reported. The United Nations stopped collecting statistics almost two years ago when the figure was 250,000.
More than 10 per cent of the country’s population has been killed or injured, with life expectancy dropping from 70 years in 2010 to 55 years.
A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees report last year found that 7.6 million people had been displaced and there were more than four million refugees.
The war has also seen the rise in IS, with the terrorist group now controlling up to 45 per cent of the country.
OTHER UNDERDOG STORIES
Sport is made for heartwarming stories, with the Syrian national team just the latest in a long line of against all odds victories.
Here are just two recent examples.
Iraq win Asian Cup
In 2007, Iraq won the Asian Cup despite the country being gripped by war.
The victory qualified Iraq for the 2009 Confederations Cup, where they failed to make it out of the group stage but only suffered a 1-0 loss against a Spain team that would win the World Cup the following year.
Zambia win African Cup of Nations
No one could begrudge Zambia winning the African Cup of Nations in 2012, except for the poor Ivorians who suffered another final loss.
In 1993, most of the Zambian national team was killed in a plane crash about 500m off shore from Libreville in Gabon.
The team was judged by many as one of the best in Africa and many of the player killed were part of the side that beat Italy 4-0 in the 1988 Olympics.
Nineteen years later, underdogs Zambia won the African Cup of Nations final in a penalty shootout in Libreville, just a few hundred metres from where the plane crashed.
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