By Shahin Rahmani

SINGAPORE: West Asian rivalry is set to take centre-stage here at the Bishan Stadium on Monday evening when Saudi Arabia take on Syria in the second quarterfinal of the AFC U-17 Championship.

The Saudis, who won the title in 1985 and 1988, qualified in style for the last eight after defeating last edition’s runners-up DPR Korea 2-1 before thrashing Myanmar 5-0 to underline their prowess in Group C which was reduced to three teams after the disqualification of Laos.

Syria, meanwhile, took a contrasting route to the quarterfinals as Group D runners-up and had to bounce back from an opening 1-0 defeat to reigning champions China to reinforce their confidence with a 7-0 hammering of minnows Bangladesh. They wrapped up their campaign with a 2-0, albeit late and nervy, win over Vietnam.

The Syrians, who lost to Yemen in the quarterfinals in the 2002 edition, made other teams in the group sit up and take notice after their gritty solitary goal defeat to China in the opening game.

No wonder Saudi’s Swiss coach Jean-Marie Conz tipped them as strong quarterfinal rivals. “The style of Syria is unique among the West Asian countries. They are a good example of a hardworking team,EConz. “But I trust in our strength and now I think we can be the champions of Asia for the third time.E

For Syria coach Mohamed Al Jomaa, who after leading the youth side of Al Karameh to seven domestic titles is no stranger to such pressure situations, felt his lads needed fresh motivation to beat their West Asian rivals.

“My players play from their hearts and they can do it again. Their spirit is at their highest level possible. We have to beat Saudi. In our last four matches we have drawn once and won once against them. Now is the time to show our ability.E

The psychological factor when playing against the Saudis, who are superior at least on paper, was not lost on Al Jomaa. “My team has been together for a year now and I know my players well. I can turn them from losers to winners with a pep talk.E

Conz said his players had acquitted themselves well on the artificial playing turf of Bishan Stadium where they played their group matches and this had infused them with confidence. “I was very concerned about playing on an artificial turf a few months ago. We played quite a few matches but we came to Singapore and Malaysia early before this tournament just to get used to the artificial grass. I think that was our last problem and now we are set.E

Both sides have conceded just one goal, indicating, if anything, a strong backline and custodian. The Saudi defensive trio of Abdullah Majrashi, Khalid Awaji and Sultan Al Beshi have combined well with goalkeeper Naif Al Anazi to be miserly while strikers Yahya Dagriri, Mohamed Hazazi, Fahd Al Dossari and Thenyan Al Matrafi have been nothing but goal-hungry.

Conz is likely to go for a 4-3-3 formation which returned a goal-fest against Myanmar in their last game while his counterpart Al Jomaa is likely to keep faith with 3-5-2 which has kept the team in good stead so far.

Syrian strikers Ziad Ajouz and Mohamed Jaafar are the men the Saudi backline will be looking to stop while their hitmen will have to get past defenders Khaled Al Brjawi, Rajab Tubararkji and Abelnaser Hassan before seeing Ahmad Madnia in the Syrian goal.

The Saudi coach was in doubt as to what was to be done. “Beating Syria is very important to us as it is a bridge to the FIFA U-17 World Cup next year in the Korea Republic. My players need to be firing on all cylinders.E