Melaka: Mahmoud Al Mawas believes the results achieved by Syria on the Road to Russia make them the greatest side to ever represent the West Asian country.
Midfielder Al Mawas has been a key component in a side that produced many memorable performances in Group A of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers as a third-placed finish booked a play-off date with Australia.
The Qasioun Eagles return again to their temporary home base of Melaka, Malaysia to take on the Socceroos in Thursday’s first leg, before a meeting in Sydney five days later which will decide whether their incredible qualifying run will continue.
“The results of this team have been so strong, so I think we are the best team in Syria’s history,” said Al Mawas, who scored the only goal of the game as Syria picked up their first win of the Group A campaign in a stunning 1-0 victory in China last October.
“It’s now the dream of all the players, and the 23 million people in Syria, to go to the World Cup. We need this dream to come true so we can make the Syrian people inside and outside the country happy.”
With Syria currently unable to host the national team’s games, Malaysia has been staging the Qasioun Eagles’ home qualifying fixtures over the past 13 months.
The West Asians have adapted to their new surroundings in fine fashion, though, winning two and drawing three of their five home games as they remained unbeaten.
Al Mawas scored three of his side’s nine goals in the third round of qualifying, with the midfielder also opening the scoring from the spot in a 2-2 home draw with China and netting the third in a 3-1 victory over Qatar in Melaka.
“We do want to return to play in our country,” admitted Al Mawas. “But we are happy to play in Melaka because all of our results here have been good.
“We hope to continue that against Australia, who I think are one of the greatest teams in Asia; we think they are possibly the second or third best team. After the Iran game we started to study them and we know we must fight to get a good result.”
It was the game against the Islamic Republic of Iran that secured Syria’s play-off berth as the returning striker Omar Al Soma scored deep into injury time to secure a 2-2 draw and third place in the standings at the very last moment.
“I have been following this team for 15 years and I think this is the best side of my generation,” added Al Soma.
“Australia are one of the best teams in Asia; they are very physical and good from set-pieces, but we must try to do our best in this game.
“Everybody wishes that we will play in the World Cup. It is the dream of the Syrian players and all the players in the world.”
Photos: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com