in a World Cup. Reduced to 10 at the start of extra time, Syria nevertheless bravely tried their luck, narrowly missing the equalizer and qualification for the intercontinental play-off during stoppage time in the 2nd half of extra time on a free kick from the essential Al Somah who found the post. 2019 Asian Cup: missed opportunity At the 2019 AFC Asian Cup (Group B) in the United Arab Emirates, Syria under the leadership of then-head coach Bernd Strange, the national team drew 0–0 with Palestine in the first match of the tournament. Syria failed to advance from the group stage after losing to Australia (2–3) and Jordan (0–2). The Syrian coach Bernd Stange was sacked after this tournament, and replaced with former manager Fajr Ibrahim. The team's game didn't improve much after this intervention, and a new head coach Nabil Maâloul, had to come to improve the situation around the national team. From 2019 to the present In qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, which began in the fall of 2019, they were placed second in Group A of 2nd round after the draw. In the first matches of the group, the Qasioun Eagles comfortably won first over the Philippines (5–2), Maldives (2–1) and Guam (4–0). Subsequently, in an important match, they defeated China 2–1 after Osama Omari's goal and Zhang Linpeng's own goal. In the next match, the national team defeated the Philippines 1–0 with a decisive goal by midfielder Ward Al Salama. On 11 March 2020, Tunisian Nabil Maâloul was appointed head coach of Syria. The last matches in the group were played in 2021 due to COVID-19 in Asia, when they first defeated the Maldives (4–0) and Guam (3–0), and then lost to China 1–3. In Group A, they took a perfect 1st place, and advanced to the 2023 AFC Asian Cup and also to the third stage of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. Nabil Maâloul resigned on June 15, 2021 due to disagreements with the leadership of the football federation. Nizar Mahrous replaced him for the next qualification phase. The team started this part of the qualification with unconvincing results with Iran (0–1), UAE (1–1) and South Korea (1–2), with both Syrian goals scored by Omar Khribin and Mahmoud Al Baher. After a humiliating defeat in the Levantine derby with Lebanon (2–3, the scorers were Khrbin and Somah), a draw with Iraq (1–1 only