Match Report
5 points and 2 places separated them: Iran 1st with 9, Syria 3rd with 4. Recent form told a different story for Syria: only 11th in the league over the last five rounds despite sitting 3rd. Scoring rates set the scale: Iran 2.33 scored and 0.67 conceded per game, Syria 0.33 and 0.33, with the league averaging 1.21.
Iran arrived on a run of five straight wins, having scored in 13 consecutive games. The five-game form split read 15/15 points for Iran against 6/15 for Syria.
The match was played at Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha (capacity 12,000). On the scoreboard, Iran led 1-0 at the break; 1 second-half goal set the final 1-1.