New Delhi: Syria beat Lebanon 1-0 in the Nehru Cup football Thursday and virtually took India with them to the final.
Though mathematically Sri Lanka have a chance of spoiling defending champions India's party, but only if they run up a tennis score against Kyrgyzstan Friday.
India have six points from three matches while Sri Lanka have tallied three points. The hosts have a better goal difference of plus two while Sri Lanka have minus five.
The round-robin match Thursday between traditional rivals Syria and Lebanon was marred by frayed tempers. But last year's finalist Syria was the better of the two teams at the floodlit Ambedkar Stadium.
Syria scored through Mohammed Alzino in the 23rd minute. For Lebanon this was a disappointing first Nehru Cup.
It was a do-or-die match for Lebanon, who started the tournament on a positive note with a 1-0 win over India, but they played out a rough game.
Syria, however, had a better control of the match.
The only time the Syrians looked a little rattled was in the first five minutes when Lebanese striker Akram Moghrabi made threatening inroads. Soon, Syria unleashed a flurry of attack with Alzino taking the first shot at the goal only to be stopped by a diving goalkeeper Larry Mehana.
The combination of Alzino, Abdul Fatah Aalaga and Wael Ayan broke through the Lebanese defence at regular intervals. The only goal came as an unmarked Alzino latched onto Alaga's header and raced into to boot home.
In the second half, Lebanon showed more intent in getting the equaliser and tempers ran high after their medio Hassan Maatouk was brought down in the box by Syrian goalie Mosab Balhous.
Indian referee Arumugham Rowan turned down Lebanon's appeal for a penalty and was manhandled by the players. Linesmen Kamil Mohammed and Fernandes Francisco rushed to save their compatriot and to the utter shock Rowan didn't penalize the player for pushing him.
In the last 10 minutes, Syria tried to double the lead but Lebanon defended well.
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