Syria vs Australia Prediction: Socceroos to take giant leap into knockouts

Australia and Syria meet for the first time since the 2019 AFC Asian Cup on Thursday morning (KO, 11:30), as they face off in the 2023 edition in Doha, Qatar.

Syria are looking for revenge after a 90+3 minute goal from Tom Rogic broke their hearts in a 3-2 group stage defeat in the United Arab Emirates four years ago.

They arrive into Thurday's clash at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium with a point already in their pockets after an opening round stalemate with Uzbekistan, while Australia's status as Group B favourites was underlined with a 2-0 win over India on Saturday.

Team News

Syria only introduced two substitutes in their draw with Uzbekistan and may opt to name an unchanged line-up on Thursday, with captain and goalkeeper Ibrahim Alma remaining on the bench.

Westerlo left-back Jordan Bos came off the bench to score Australia's second and final goal of the game against India and the 21-year-old's attacking instincts could be utilised from the start against Syria.

Bruno Fornaroli and Riley McGree are other options if head coach Graham Arnold decides to freshen things up.

Match Odds

Syria are 17/2 to win their first Asian Cup game since January 2011, when they beat Saudi Arabia 2-1. The draw, meanwhile, is 10/3, and Australia are big favourites to take all three points at 3/10.

Both teams to score is 13/8 and it's 11/10 for over 2.5 goals.

Australia to win and under 2.5 goals @ 8/5

It was a slow start for Australia last Saturday as they went into the interval against India with no goals scored despite taking 14 shots and 12 corners.

Syria may look to emulate whatever it was that worked for India in the first half, and they can take confidence from their own opening game which saw Uzbekistan fire just two efforts on goal and fail to score.

Ultimately, the Socceroos should have too much for their opponents, but only one of their last five victories have seen at least three goals scored.

Australia to win to nil @ 4/5

It's not been pretty for Australia recently but they proven themselves to be a solid outfit under Arnold.

The Socceroos have kept a clean sheet in each of their last five games while a friendly with England last October saw them concede just once. They also played Argentina last year, only losing 2-0 against Lionel Messi and co, so they should have enough to withstand Syria's attack.

The Qasioun Eagles didn't manage a single shot on target in their opening round fixture with Uzbekistan while they drew a blank on three occasions last year, including in a friendly to Japan in their final game of 2023, losing 5-0.

Australia restricted India to four shots and just one on target last week and should find things similarly simple on Thursday.

Check out the rest of our Football Betting Tips here.