Syria’s utterly inspirational journey toward qualifying for their first ever World Cup was kept alive in the most dramatic of circumstances on Tuesday evening.
Trailing 2-1 against rivals Iran as injury time wicked away, it looked for all the world like the dream was over.
However, Syria suddenly wrestled back possession and, on his first call-up in five years, Omar al-Soma broke clear on the break to slot a 93rd-minute equaliser through the legs of Iran ‘keeper Ali Beiranvand. Cue pandemonium.
Indeed, it proved to be a sensory overload for the Syrian match commentator, who failed to suppress the tears as he watched his boys celebrate en masse…
Syrian commentator breaks into tears after Omar Al-Somah’s historic goal against Iran. Goosebumps. pic.twitter.com/MSUC2IBCD0
— Mohamed Osama (@_DrOsama) September 5, 2017
If you can excuse the patchy translation, we think the commentator can be heard whimpering:
The second goal! The second goal for our national team! Who scored it? Who scored? Somah! It had to be Somah! It had to be Somah! The equalizing goal!
Pardon me! I’ve lost it! No one can stop them!
The 2-2 draw means that Syria will now play a two-legged play-off against Australia, the winner of which will go into a secondary ‘inter-confederation’ play-off against the team that finishes fourth in the CONCACAF qualifying pool (likely to be the United States, Panama or Honduras), the winner of which will earn themselves a spot at Russia 2018.
It’s certainly a big ask, but Syria have already proved that they’re capable of near-miracles.