Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Muscat: Osama Omari scored a hat-trick as Syria went two points clear at the top of Group E of the FIFA World Cup 2018/AFC Asian Cup 2019 joint-qualifiers after defeating Afghanistan 5-2 on Tuesday.
Omari, who registered a goal in Syria’s 6-0 thrashing of Cambodia last month, opened his side’s account at Seeb Stadium in Oman on nine minutes before doubling his tally on the 21st minute mark.
Mahmoud Al Mawas, who also contributed a goal against Cambodia, made it 3-0 for Fajr Ibrahim’s side before Noraollah Amiri pulled one back for the Afghans with his first goal of the campaign one minute from the half-time whistle.
Afghan midfielder Faysal Shayesteh reduced the deficit further with his 78th minute strike before Omari completed his hat-trick with Syria’s fourth on 83 minutes.
Al Mawas sealed the win with his second on the stroke of full-time as Syria moved on to 12 points, two clear of both Japan and Singapore, who went level with the four-time Asian champions after beating Cambodia 2-1 in the earlier fixture.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup.
NEXT FIXTURES:
12/11/15: Afghanistan v Cambodia
17/11/15: Singapore v Syria