Arizona won't get Matthew Ryan back until February at the earliest. With the 31-year-old goalkeeper under the crossbar, Australia secured a place in the eighth Asian Cup finals on Thursday afternoon by also winning the second group match.
Australia, the winner of the tournament in 2015, defeated India at the start of the tournament last Saturday (2-0) and is now too strong for Syria. Just like in the first game, it was Jackson Irvin who broke the spell at the end of the first half Socross. The thirty-year-old midfielder from FC St. Pauli scored a goal after a chaotic situation in the penalty area.
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This goal was Australia's only shot between the posts. Then Pablo Sabaj hit the post for Syria, but Rayyan kept his goal clean. With six points from two matches, national coach Graham Arnold's side have secured their place in the top two in Group B, where they will face India and Uzbekistan this afternoon.
This means that Australia will compete in the final days of January for a place in the quarter-finals scheduled for February 2-3. So the Arizona club knows that it cannot call up Ryan at the moment, who is currently being replaced by Roma's Jayden Owusu-Oduro. There is a good chance he will keep his goal against Feyenoord on February 4.
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