DOHA, Dec 5: Pakistan, already down with two defeats at the hands of Japan and North Korea, face another uphill task by playing Syria here on Wednesday (today) in round-2 (Group-F) of the Asian Games soccer at the Al-Arabi Football Stadium.

Pakistan coach from Bahrain Salman Sharida is still confident of his team pulling a surprise by beating Syria who shocked North Korea by holding them to a 0-0 draw.

It would the third international match between the two sides. The two previous encounters had been won by Syria in the Athens Olympic Qualifiers in 2003.

“Why should we lose hope? If we can give tough time to Japan and North Korea, we can do the same against Syria,” the coach said on Tuesday.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Essa said the team was ready to take on a strong challenge and was not under pressure.

Teams (from):

Pakistan:

Jaffar Khan, Naveed Akram, Tanveer Ahmed, Samar Ishaq, Mubashar Hussain, Mohammad Essa (C), Abdul Aziz, Mohammad Imran, Abbas Ali, Imran Niazi, Mohammad Rasool, Mohammad Irfan, Adeel Ahmed, Zahid Hameed, Shahid Ahmed, Shakir Lashari, Mohammad Waseem, Ejaz Ahmed, Mohammad Shahzad, Adnan Bari.

Coach: Salman Sharida.

Syria: Balhowss Mowssab, Istanbali Mohammad, Barakat Adeb, Al Hussien Jehad, Almna Mahmoud, Al Said Maher, Jenyat Aatef, Dakka Abd Alkader, Hemidi Omar, Alaga Abdwlfatah, Tarab Bakri, Alhamwi Mohammad, Alhousain Abd Al Razak, Alaya Mootassem, Al Hafz Adnan, Rafe Raja, Sharour Salah, Ayan Wael, Al Khatib Firas.

Coach: Fajer Ebrahim.

Wednesday fixtures:

Iran v India, Hong Kong v Maldives, Pakistan v Syria, Japan v N. Korea, Malaysia v Iraq, China v Oman.—APP