Football on the frontline – Syria's World Cup dream

Despite conflict entering a seventh year, the 16-team Syrian Premier League is still going and the international team harbour hopes of making it to the biggest stage of all, the World Cup.

The national team can't play qualifiers in Syria and face a 9,000-mile round-trip to Malaysia to play their "home" games.

Syria have already beaten China away and sit fourth in their World Cup group, five points from an automatic qualifying spot.

As part of the BBC's State of Sport week, we spoke to the team as they prepared for their next qualifier against Uzbekistan in Kuala Lumpur.

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