Héctor Cúper, his team (Syria) and Palestine made history in the Asian Cup after reaching the round of 16 of the competition for the first time after beating India (1-0) and Hong Kong (0-3) respectively.
They achieved it to the pride of two countries with problems that were happy thanks to football and will be so in the next round, together with Australia, Uzbekistan, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
This Tuesday, Cúper wrote his name in the books of Syrian football, which never went that far. They have never passed the group stage wall in their six previous participations (1980, 1984, 1988, 1996, 2011 and 2019).
The Argentine coach, who took over the reins of Syria in February 2023, has managed to form a winning team with an Argentine seal in his selection with players from his country of Syrian descent such as Ibrahim Hesar, Ezequiel Ham and Jalil Elías. In addition, names born outside Syria are included, such as the Colombian Pablo Sabbag, the Swedes Antonio Yakoub and Aiham Ousou and the Greek Abdul Rhaman Weiss.
🎥HIGHLIGHTS | 🇸🇾 Syria 1️⃣-0️⃣ India 🇮🇳
One for the history book 📕
Watch the Qasioun Eagles soar past the group stages, all the way to their first-ever Round of 16 berth! 👏🏼
Match report 🔗 https://t.co/j62xQTwTih#AsianCup2023 | #HayyaAsia | #SYRvIND pic.twitter.com/Gtw7LGAynW
— #AsianCup2023 (@afcasiancup) January 23, 2024
With these wickers, Cúper has built a very competitive group that he has led to glory. They started the tournament with a goalless draw in their debut against Uzbekistan, then lost 0-1 to Australia and against India their entire future was at stake in 90 minutes.
And it was Omar Khribin who, with a goal in the 76th minute, unleashed euphoria at the ‘Qasyoun Eagles’, who mathematically placed themselves among the four best third parties in the Asia Cup with the Al-Wahda player’s goal. Cúper, at the age of 68, continues to fight and achieve success.
“We are very happy with the classification, I am very proud of my players, they made great sacrifices to achieve this result. We played the game with one goal in mind: to win, and we achieved that. We do not want to stop here,” said the Argentine coach on the verge of tears with his translator, who cried excitedly with the journalist who asked him the questions.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
