A shot at World Cup glory in the heat of war
AFTER Omar al-somah scored in the game’s dying seconds he fell to the ground, bowed his head to the earth and prayed. The symbolism of the moment was not lost on the footballer. Somah’s 93rd minute equaliser against Iran earlier this month had kept alive Syria’s dream of qualifying for its first World Cup.
They face Australia on Thursday for a place in the 2018 tournament in Russia, an incredible feat for a team that has not played an international home game in Syria since war erupted in 2011. In any other country a striker bringing hope to a once-failing team would be a national hero. In Syria, however, it’s a bit more complicated.
The 28-year-old player has spent most of the past five years in selfimposed exile.
Somah last appeared for his country in 2012. At his final game in Kuwait he waved the rebels’ three-star flag, a flourish he knew would cause trouble.
He spent the intervening years playing for a team in Saudi Arabia, the Syrian government’s chief regional foe. He was not the only defector. Firas al-khatib – considered the best Syrian player of all time – declared in 2012 that he would not play for his country while the government bombed civilians.
His hometown of Homs, a Sunnimajority city which was among the first to rise against the Alawite-led regime, was subjected to a devastating bombardment by President Bashar al-assad’s forces.
In the end, after what they described as heart-wrenching deliberation, both returned. The government granted rare amnesties to its former top goalscorers.
“Whatever happens, 12 million Syrians will love me,” Khatib said at the time, referring to the number of people displaced by conflict. “The other 12 million will want to kill me.”
Syria has not come so close to qualifying since just missing out on the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. But putting together a squad has been the easy part.
Fifa restrictions and security fears mean international teams cannot play in Syria.
They came within one day of forfeiting their campaign, due to a lack of friendly countries to host them, until Malaysia agreed last September. The players, many of them on lucrative contacts for Middle Eastern teams, say they are not concerned about money when it comes to playing for their national side.
“It’s just so nice to be back together again,” midfielder Tamer Haj Mohamad told The Daily Telegraph. “We don’t think about our differences as other people do.”
The team’s mix of ethnicities and religions reflects Syria’s complicated tapestry. Somah and Khatib are Sunni Muslims, the goalkeeper belongs to Assad’s Alawite sect, a forward is Armenian and a midfielder is Circassian. They stand together before each match to sing the anthem under the Syrian flag.
But Ahmed Ali from the southern city of Deraa, who now lives in Turkey, said no one should forget it was Assad’s team. “The flag has become a symbol of the murderous regime, which has used nerve gas, starvation, torture and barrel bombs on its people,” he said.
If anyone was in doubt about the team’s allegiances, its former head coach Fajer Ibrahim appeared at a press conference in Singapore in 2015 wearing a T-shirt bearing Assad’s photo. The regime demands the same loyalty from its players.
There have been fatal consequences for those who choose the wrong side, according to Anas Ammo, a sports writer from Aleppo. He claims there have been at least 39 deaths of first and second division players that can be directly attributed to the regime. Thirteen are detained in prison and some are missing.
Jihad Qassab, a former star of a team that plays in Homs, is among those missing. He was arrested in August 2014 and has not been seen or heard from since.
The father of Alaa al-shbli, a defender in the current team, disappeared after expressing sympathy for the rebels.
Some opposition supporters accuse the returning players of selling out.
Old friends of Somah’s from Deir Ezzor, occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), told The Telegraph they were disappointed he had gone back to the “the dictator’s team”.
“It’s a great propaganda coup for the regime,” said one now living in Germany, who asked to remain anonymous. “Football is one way they have of telling the world ‘everything is normal, we are in control’.”
Or maybe he saw the political winds shifting.
At the time Somah and Khatib left, many expected Assad to fall. But Russia’s intervention in 2015 helped swing momentum back in Assad’s favour.
The team is going from strength to strength but Australia, qualifiers for the last three World Cups, will present a major challenge.
Midfielder Mohamad says if the team can provide 90 minutes of joy to Syrians then they will have done their job. “Hopefully we will make it to the World Cup and make them happy again,” he says. “We are all sons of Syria, after all.”
‘It’s just so nice to be back together again…we don’t think about our differences as other people do’