South Korea set to play Syria in Malaysia

War-torn Syria’s World Cup qualifier with South Korea has been thrown into doubt after Macau pulled out of hosting next week’s game, South Korea’s football body said on Thursday.

“The Asian Football Confederation is now in talks for an alternate venue and since the AFC is the arbiter of the matter, we are waiting for their decision”.

Syria, who are unable to host home games because of the conflict in their country, are among 12 Asian teams vying for four automatic sports for the 2018 World Cup in Russian Federation.

The two teams will meet in a Group A clash at Paroi Stadium in Seremban, southeast of the capital Kuala Lumpur. Their next scheduled home match is against Iran on November 15.

The World Cup 2018 campaign marks the first time Syria have participated in the final round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers since losing 3-1 on aggregate to Iraq in the campaign to reach the 1986 finals in Mexico.

However, there were positive signs for China as they fought back from 3-0 down – including an early own goal – and had South Korea hanging on for their win.

Syria are now left scrambling to find a country and venue that will host their qualifier at very short notice.

“Syria has to make the same arrangements with all five countries in the group and so all it seems as if all the games will be played in Malaysia”, said the official.

“South Korea will host a home match against Syria next year, so unless that’s moved up, it’s unlikely”.

No exact reason has yet been given, however, with the SAFF now in limbo about where their national team will play their crucial home qualification games. South Korea, unsure about Tuesday’s match, cancelled their bookings for the southern Chinese territory, AFP reported.

However, on August 23 they changed the venue to Macau, evoking security reasons, as Macau Daily Times reported earlier citing football official sources. He would not comment on speculation that the sticking points were the cost of the deal and complaints from other nations in the group that using Macau would give China an unfair advantage.

SOUTH Korea captain Ki Sung-yueng warned that China’s massive spending on foreign players didn’t guarantee worldwide success, citing the cautionary tale of England’s moribund national team.