How India's AFC Asian Cup 2023 opponents have fared in past editions: Syria

India might be the lowest-ranked team in their AFC Asian Cup 2023 group stages, but the closest one to them are Syria. They are ranked 90th in the FIFA rankings, which is just slightly higher than the Blue Tigers on the rankings ladder.

Syria remains the only team in the group to have never made the knockout stages in the continental tournament. India did make the AFC Asian Cup knockout stages in the 1950s, with Australia and Uzbekistan also doing well in recent editions.

With that being said, the Qasioun Eagles are still going to be a stubborn, unpredictable threat in the group stages that can shock anyone if taken lightly. Here we look how they fared in past AFC Asian Cup editions.

1980

Syria only became an official member of the AFC Confederation in the 1970s. They had the chance to participate in the 1976 edition but withdrew before the tournament. The Qasioun Eagles did, although, qualify for the 1980 edition and made their debut in it.

They had a pretty impressive debut campaign. Placed in a five-team group alongside, Iran, North Korea, China, and Bangladesh, they started their campaign with a gritty goalless draw against giants Iran.

Syria then won their first-ever AFC Asian Cup game against Bangladesh in their second game, and then went on to defeat China as well – with Jamal Keshik scoring the winners in both. However, a loss to North Korea in the decisive final game saw them finish third in their group and barely miss out on qualification to the knockout stages.

1984

After impressing in their debut campaign, Syria also qualified for the 1984 edition. This time, they were placed in a tougher group alongside Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and South Korea! This time, things did not go as well as expected.

With that being said, they started the campaign pretty well with a 1-1 draw against Qatar. They did go onto lose the clash against Saudi Arabia in their second clash, before defeating South Korea in their third match.

But after a crushing 3-1 loss in their final group game against Kuwait, they finished fourth in their group and were eliminated from the group stages.

1988

Syria made it three in a row in terms of AFC Asian Cup qualifications in the 1980s decade and travelled to Qatar for the 1988 edition. They had a tough start to the edition, losing their opening game to Saudi Arabia.

Things went from bad to worse, as they also suffered a 3-0 defeat to China in their second game – which dented their knockout hopes. To their credit, the Qasioun Eagles managed to bounce back strongly from the tough start.

They got revenge on Kuwait with a gritty 1-0 win in their third match, before also defeating Bahrain in their final group game too. Howeer, they ended up falling just short of the top-2 and finished third once again – getting eliminated from the group stages.

1996

After missing the 1992 edition, Syria returned to the AFC Asian Cup in 1996. They were placed in a tough group alongside Japan, China, and Uzbekistan. The Qasioun Eagles seemed to be on the verge of defeating Japan in their first game after taking an early lead, but ended up conceding twice in the final five minutes to lose.

Things got worse against China, who routed them with a dominant 3-0 win and crippled their hopes of a knockout stages qualification. Syria managed to redeem some pride by defeating Uzbekistan to finish third in the group but didn’t have enough points to make it through to the next round as one of the best third-place teams.

2011

Syria had a 15-year absence from the AFC Asian Cup after 1996 as the quality of their national team dipped after the start of the 21st century. However, the Qasioun Eagles returned to the fore in 2011 in the AFC Asian Cup that was held in Qatar.

They were placed in the same group as old rivals Japan, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia. Syria started the campaign brightly with a 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia in their opening game. However, they were brought back to reality by Japan and despite a gritty performance, fell to a 2-1 loss.

The Qasioun Eagles went on to lose their final group game to Jordan as well. Despite scoring in every game and putting up an admirable fight, they could only finish in third place and failed to get past the group stages.

2019

Syria missed the 2015 AFC Asian Cup edition, but like India, they also made a return in the 2019 edition in the UAE. They were placed in the same group as Jordan, Australia as well as Palestine.

In their opening game against Palestine, Syria played out a disappointing 0-0 draw that helped neither team. They went on to lose their second game to Jordan, leaving them in a do-or-die situation in their final group match against Australia.

To their credit, the Qasioun Eagles played out an entertaining game against Australia in their final group clash. They took the Socceroos to the limit, bringing the game level twice before losing due to an added-time penalty. In doing so, Syria lost their final game and finished three games with just one point – resulting in their worst-ever AFC Asian Cup campaign.

In total, the Qasioun Eagles have played 21 games in the AFC Asian Cup and won just seven of them. However, they’ve shown enough resilience and unpredictability in the past to ensure that none of their opponents in the 2023 Asian Cup group stages will take them lightly.