Sydney: Mouaiad Al Ajjan is adamant Syria need to take their chances if they are to get a result against Australia in the second leg of the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 Continental play-off on Tuesday.
Syria left it late to find an equaliser against the Socceroos in the Malaysian city of Melaka on Thursday as Omar Al Soma’s penalty five minutes from time claimed a 1-1 draw to take into the second leg in Sydney.
Left-back Al Ajjan struggled against his opposite number Joshua Risdon on the flank, completing just 56 percent of his passes, but the 24-year-old is targeting an improved performance in the away leg.
“We missed a lot of chances in the first game, but they had chances too, so eventually a draw was a fair result,” said Al Ajjan, who recently signed for Egyptian powerhouse Zamalek after four years in the Iraqi league with Air Force Club and Nafit Al Wasat.
“We were slow to get into the match and were not very focused in the first half, but at half-time the coach instructed us to apply more pressure on our opponents and that changed things dramatically.”
Syria maintained their unbeaten run in their adopted home of Malaysia and go into the second leg in pursuit of a valuable away victory against an Australian side who are yet to taste defeat on home soil.
The West Asians recorded just one away win in the third round of qualifying, when they stunned China to secure a 1-0 victory just over a year ago, but claimed a highly impressive 2-2 draw against the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran last month to advance to the play-off against Australia.
And another score draw with more than one goal would also be enough for the Qasioun Eagles to advance to the Inter-Continental play-off against the fourth-placed team from the CONCACAF qualifiers.
“We are content with the result, but we promise the fans we will up our game in the second leg to bring them joy and qualify to the Inter-Confederation play-off.”
Photos: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com