'Mature' Australia edge Syria to reach Asian Cup knockouts

Australia followed hosts and holders Qatar into the last 16 of the Asian Cup with an unconvincing 1-0 victory over Syria on Thursday.

Jackson Irvine scored the winner on the hour with his second goal of the tournament, swivelling in the box before poking the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Ahmad Madanieh.

Graham Arnold's Socceroos are into the knockouts with a group game to spare but will have to play better than this if they are to lift the Asian Cup for a second time.

There were just two shots on target all game, one for each side.

Arnold, who took Australia to the last 16 of the Qatar World Cup before being beaten 2-1 by eventual champions Argentina, denied his side had been lucky.

"We knew they would make it difficult and I was very happy with our defensive performance," Arnold said, having seen his side beat India 2-0 in their opening game.

"Overall I know that we can improve, and we will improve, but it's great to qualify for the second round."

He added: "We obviously need to improve with the ball, but they made it difficult to score and are hard to break down.

"What is important is that we put in a mature performance."

India play Uzbekistan in the same group later Thursday.

In the final round of matches in Group B on Tuesday, Australia play Uzbekistan and Syria face India.

Syria, who struck the post early on, are still in contention for the last 16 and their veteran Argentine coach Hector Cuper said: "What gives me confidence is the players' spirit and sacrifice. That makes me optimistic.

"I am happy and proud of the players and confident we will be able to qualify."

- Near-embarrassment -

Lower-ranked Syria nearly went ahead inside five minutes when their Colombian-born striker Pablo Sabbag pinged the ball off the foot of Australia's post.

A physically imposing Australia began to exert control, but without really threatening.

Their best chance came 10 minutes before the break when Gethin Jones won the ball with a looping header from a corner and midfielder Irvine -- who scored in India win -- just failed to capitalise on the stretch at the far post.

Ranked 91 to Australia's 25, Syria were hardly in it as an attacking force at the compact Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, despite the best efforts of their fanatical supporters.

But Syria, who drew 0-0 with Uzbekistan, came to life at the end of the first half.

Winger Ammar Ramadan was a constant threat and dragged a snapshot wide, ruffling the side-netting. A Sabbag attempt from outside the box curled over.

Arnold trudged down the tunnel for half-time with a shake of the head.

By the 57th minute he had seen enough and he made a triple change, including throwing on the attacking midfielders Riley McGree and Samuel Silvera.

Three minutes later Australia took the lead through Germany-based midfielder Irvine.

Australia were mostly comfortable after that, but there was nearly embarrassment for goalkeeper Maty Ryan when he spilled a tame effort from distance in the 67th minute, scrambling back to claw the ball off his goal-line.