Dubai: Giving football back to those that need it most is the motivation for Syria coach Bernd Stange, who is risking his life to travel across the war-ravaged country to find players to add to his squad ahead of January’s UAE-hosted Asian Cup.
The 70-year-old German has made a career out of managing in war zones having been in charge of Iraq from 2002 to 2004 during the 2003 allied invasion.
“Maybe that’s why they approached me,” he said of Syria, who appointed him in February. “They know I can work quietly under difficult circumstances to show leadership and show them a way.
“I’m like a Syrian now, living with them and doing my job in Damascus, but it’s not easy, it’s very difficult to plan the future under circumstances of war.
“Nothing is normal but I try to do my job, the championship is ongoing and they play in Aleppo, Homs and Damascus, and I’m there to try and find a handful of players to add to the team for the Asian Cup.”
Asked if he was afraid, he replied: “Managing Iraq was maybe tougher than Syria after the war, it was very dangerous with hostage takings, but I stayed focused on my job.
“Now I’ve got a job to do in Syria and I’m not afraid because if you are afraid you can’t even go to an airport in Europe, or a Christmas market or coffee shop in Paris, it’s everywhere and I hope the world will be quiet so we can play football and make people happy.”
That, it seems, is his main motivation for taking on such high-risk assignments.
“We were in Basra in March for the friendly tournament between Iraq, Syria and Qatar (the first Fifa-recognised games to be played in Iraq in almost 30-years), and to see capacity crowds of people hungry for football made me very proud to have helped bring a tournament there.
“The circumstances in Basra are still difficult but if you see how much those people need football after years of boycott, it made me happy to be in Basra, that’s motivation for me and it’s a challenge to do something similar with Syria, that’s my goal.”
This goal starts with the UAE-hosted Asian Cup in January, where Stange believes they have a good chance of getting out of the group for the first time in their history, especially after pushing Australia so close in October’s World Cup qualifying play-off.
“They had a handful of players not available to them due to injuries and suspensions but still did a brilliant job and lost 2-1 [to Australia in Sydney], almost equalising in the last second.
“They couldn’t qualify to the World Cup because they couldn’t sub on important players, they couldn’t find them and now I’m looking everywhere to try and add a few to our team with European experience.
“That will take a few months and friendlies but finally we need competition for each position. That hasn’t happened in Syria but now we try to create such a situation.
“I honestly believe they can make it to the next stage at the Asian Cup,” he added, where they again face Australia, Palestine and Jordan in Group B. “And then you need God and a good run. You don’t know who you will play so you can’t say you want to win it, but we will go step-by-step.
“The circumstances aren’t easy in preparation, but we should be strong enough, the players are confident and want to achieve something, that’s what I feel after two games in Iraq and if we can get out of the group stages anything can happen.”
