Japan under pressure in Asian World Cup soccer qualification

If Japan can't beat Syria they certainly don't deserve to be in the World Cup.

Is this article some kind of joke or is it an attempt to make the Japan team look heroic if it wins ? In case anybody needs to be informed, the nation of Syria is in a bloody shambles as a result of a years long terrorist insurgency and civil war. God only knows how they've managed to even field a team, let alone be a threat to Japan.

ogtob: They already don't deserve to be in the next one, but yeah, losing to Syria would be even worse.

And Ohara... agreed. The fact that they even have a team is a miracle, and a victory, in and of itself.

It is a sport. There is no shame in losing to anybody. I don't know the abilities of the Syrian football team, but the Afghanistan cricket team miraculously almost qualified for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, beating Japan on the way and went one step further and did qualify for the 2015 Cricket World Cup earlier this year. Sometimes humans are remarkable.