Doha – The Iranian player Mehdi Taremi couldn’t hold back tears as he sat in the stands, while his teammates took penalty shots that secured their victory over Syria, allowing them to advance to face Japan in the quarter-finals of the ongoing Asian Cup in Qatar.
Syrian fans, who gathered at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, were among the most optimistic but did not expect to see their national team go head-to-head with Iran and snatch a draw in regular time, leading the match into not just extra time but also a penalty shootout.
Despite the first half of the game being completely dominated by the “Persian Lions” in performance and result, the Syrian team resurged in the second half, thanks to tactical substitutions made by Argentine coach Hector Cuper, the mentor of the “Qasioun Eagles”. Cuper, known for his loyalty to the 4-4-2 formation and defensive approach with all the teams he has coached, made a quick substitution in the 58th minute, bringing in Pablo Sabágh from the Peruvian team “Alianza Lima” in place of Mahmoud Al Mawas.
This substitution paid off as Sabágh, standing at 1.88 meters, resulted in a penalty six minutes later, from which Omar Khrbin, the team captain, scored the equalizing goal for his national team.
Regarding this substitution, the Syrian football analyst Mohammad Al Khawli stated, “Cuper wanted to use Sabágh as a pivot to redirect the balls lifted by the defenders and midfielders to the attackers, thus breaking down the advanced Iranian defense. He relied heavily on the offside trap.”
He added, “Sabágh’s speed and physical strength make him capable of outperforming the slow Iranian defenders, who were slow in dispersing and passing the balls between themselves. Cuper succeeded in this after Khrbin’s pass behind the Iranian defense reached Sabágh, who swiftly stormed into the penalty area and forced the goalkeeper, Ali Reza Beiranvand, to commit a foul on him.”
Cuper did not stop with this change, as he also introduced the forward Alaa Al Dali in place of Khrbin, who was exhausted in the 87th minute. This substitution yielded results as well, as in one of his runs, he forced Taremi to commit a foul on him, resulting in his second yellow card and exit from the game in the 91st minute.
However, the Syrian national team failed to take advantage of the numerical disadvantage for the Iranian team. Instead of launching successive attacks on the Iranian goal to seal the match with a second goal, they retreated and their players seemed to be leading the match towards extra time.
Regarding this, Al Khawli explained, “This is a well-known trait of Cuper – he lacks the courage to make decisive decisions during the match and does not know how to take the initiative to attack. Instead of asking his players to intensify their pressures on the mentally affected and physically fatigued Iranian players after the dismissal of their star, it seemed that the Syrian team was the one playing with 10 players and wanted to waste the remaining time of the second half.”
The goalkeeper Ahmad Madaniah, the best player for the Syrian national team, delivered an outstanding performance with his exceptional saves against Taremi, Sardar Azmoun (AS Roma player), and Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Feyenoord player). He said, “We raised our heads, and we have distinguished players to work with and build a team that competes continentally and qualifies for the 2026 World Cup.”
The match statistics support what Al Khawli stated, as the Iranian national team had 20 shots on the Syrian goal, of which 12 hit the woodwork, all of which were saved by Madaniah. Even the goal scored against him was from a penalty kick.
On the other hand, it was strange how the Iranian team, unexpectedly and significantly, reacted to Taremi’s expulsion. Although he was the star of the team, and the inspiration for the other players, the Iranian team seemed to collapse physically and started wasting time to reach extra time.
The Iranian football expert Karim Ebrahimi believes, “The expulsion shocked the Iranian team, especially as the player is the team’s star and the key motivator for the other players, and this had a major impact on the team. Elimination matches are decided by small details and turning points, and the red card is one of the most important.”
He considered that the coach Amir Ghalenoei’s decision to substitute Sardar Azmoun was a mistake because after Taremi’s expulsion, he should have kept the other star in the team, capable of deciding the match through individual skill or a shot.
However, in contrast, he praised the Iranian coach for “playing realistically and reverting to defense, relying on counter-attacks to maintain the draw result. He respected the Syrian national team, which was capable of deciding the result, but I don’t know why his players retreated instead of intensifying their attacks.”
We leave the field, and the players console Taremi and dedicate the victory to him, especially the Iranian goalkeeper Ali Reza Beiranvand, who saved a penalty kick from Fahad Al Youssef, enough to give Iran a hard-fought win over a valiant Syrian national team, whose players fought until the last breath in search of another historic achievement, after qualifying for the first time in their history for the round of 16 of the continental championship.
