Syria outplay Kyrgyzstan 4-1 in Nehru Cup

New Delhi, Aug 21 (UNI) Favourites Syria made light of an own goal to outplay Kyrgyzstan 4-1 in the ONGC Nehru Cup round robin match here tonight.

In the battle between the two best-rated teams of the five-nation tournament, captain Maher al Sayed (seventh minute), Zyad Chaabo (43rd), Mohammad Al Zeno (70th) and Abrahiem Al Hasan (82nd) scored for Syria while their central defender Ali Dyeb scored an own goal in the 13th minute under floodlights at Ambedkar Stadium.

With this win, Syria, ranked 113rd in the FIFA chart, have two wins from as many matches while Kyrgyzstan had won their opening match against Cambodia 4-3.

Man-of-the-match Maher Al Sayed, led his side from the front with a fine strike early in the match. He took possession of the ball outside the box and worked his way before shooting home past a hapless Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper Kashuba Valeri.

But, the West Asian's joy was shortlived as their central defender Ali Dyeb misread a Kornilov Roman aerial ball into the box and, while trying to clear it, lobbed over his own goalkeeper into the his own goal, to the surprise of sparse crowd at the stadium.

Syria were, however, not to be denied of their relentless attack and two minutes before half time went ahead with star striker Chaabo finding the net via a diving header connecting an Al Zeno cross from the right flank.

The resumption did not see any respite from Syrian attack and they could have gone 3-1 up had Al Zeno's long range right footer not hit the crosspiece.

Kyrgyzstan got a chance to draw level in the 68th minute but Bokoev Aibek missed the target and hit the backside of the net after he was fed inside the box by Kornilov Roman.

Two minutes later, Al Zeno made it 3-1 as shot past a hapless Kyrgyzstan goalkeeper after he was fed by a wonderful Maher Al Sayed defence splitting pass.

Abrahiem Al Hasan rounded off the tally eight minutes before final whistle when Maher Al Sayed fed Al Zeno to the right, whose right footer defleced from the goalkeeper for Hasan to tap the ball home into the empty net.

Bangladesh play Cambodia tomorrow at 1900 hrs IST.

UNI