For the hope of the country - the soujourn journey of Lebanon and its World Cup dream chasing

When the final whistle of the match between Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan blew in Mrsool Park, the entire Uzbek players collapsed to the field, coach Vadim Abramov quietly entered the conference room disillusioned. Uzbekistan suffered a heavy 0-3 loss to Saudi Arabia and finished second with 15 points. But North Korea's withdrawal ruined the campaign - FIFA and AFC both agreed that points against fifth-placed teams of the remaining groups would not be counted. All six points Uzbekistan gathered from Yemen vanished to the air, and it could only obtain 9 points. A win or a draw only with more than one goal could guarantee them to progress, instead, Uzbekistan missed out on the final phase for the first time ever.

Not far away, in a country deepened by the economic crisis and political sectarian turmoils, the fans jumped into the street after hearing Uzbekistan defeated by Saudi Arabia. Yes, we talk about Lebanon, the smallest country in mainland Asia with a population of no more than five million people.

Lebanon is something people admire: it is the most diverse country in the Middle East, with an open-minded population than most of the Arab World, and a mild climate. For once, it used to be the financial centre of the region, to a point being dubbed as the region's Switzerland. But it is unfortunate with its own blessing too: a country divided by sectarian bases, by religions, fomented into a string of wars and different occupants. From the Greeks, Romans, Persians; to the Arabs and Ottomans, all wanted this small territory. The Ottomans even tried to wipe out the population by starting the famine that caused the first mass exodus. The French came and gave her independence, but also turned Lebanon into a semi-colonial status, installing French as a prestigious language, still used today in the country.

In the latter half of the 20th century, shortly before the end of the Vietnam War, the Lebanese Civil War broke out. The power-sharing system between Christians, Sunnis and Shiites failed to satisfy both parties, contributing to a devastating 15 years of chaos for Lebanon. Millions of Lebanese fled the country, settle in other nations, mostly in Australia, North America, Europe and Latin America. Saudi Arabia brokered the talks and finally, in 1989, the Taif Agreement was signed, ending the war and restored the power-sharing confessionist government.

Yet, Lebanon was unable to recover completely, and in 2006, war with Israel broke out, for a few months, due to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Lebanese militant group, accused of infiltrating Israel. Lebanon remains in difficult condition since, and following the 2019 recession, unrests across Lebanon broke out, clearly touched the red line as the country was about to collapse. Then, the explosion in Beirut port occurred in mid-2020, further worsened the crisis.

It should be noted that during this crisis era, Lebanese football strangely made great strife like never before. Previously, the country only qualified for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup, as hosts. Lebanon didn't survive, though, they lost 0-4 to Iran and only two draws to Iraq and Thailand weren't enough to lift the Lebanese from bottom place. But the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was the revival of Lebanon - under the command of ex-Dortmund footballer Theo Bückner, Lebanon reached the final phase for the first time ever, including a famous 2-1 home win over powerful South Korea. In the last round, Lebanon failed to qualify, but still, the Lebanese shocked Iran with a 1-0 home win before almost defeated South Korea for the second time, only conceded a devastating equaliser in dying minutes that knocked Lebanon out. After that, Lebanon further improved and finally punched into the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, the first time Lebanon qualified by regular qualifying phase. Sad for Lebanon, they did not make it into the last 16 for losing to Vietnam on fair-play points, despite winning 4-1 over North Korea.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification proved to be far more difficult for Lebanon - they won only one point against North Korea, despite strong performance against its southern cousin, and was third with eight points. COVID-19 pandemic surprisingly relieved these pressures, North Korea insisted in withdrawing from the qualification despite AFC's attempt to beg for North Korea to continue the qualification, thus disqualified North Korea from the 2023 AFC Asian Cup as well as the remaining fixtures en route to Qatar. Turkmenistan, who topped the group when North Korea withdrew, was pulled to third, and finally didn't qualify. Yet even with these advantages, Lebanon could not utilise well: the Cedars struggled with a 3-2 win over Sri Lanka, before bowing to Turkmenistan with the same scoreline as well as losing 1-2 to South Korea. But Saudi Arabia saved Lebanon by beating Uzbekistan. Also not to forget thanking Japan for smashing Tajikistan 4-1.

As seen in this qualification, it's obvious that Lebanon couldn't do it by themselves, a far-cry from the famous run for Brazil 2014, which Lebanon, despite not qualify, still impressed with wins over South Korea and Iran. Lebanon was lucky to have been there.

The problem of Lebanon is they'll have to face back these foes, many are no longer idiotic like before. Think Iran and South Korea, their opponents back in 2014 qualifiers, now becoming stronger. And there go to Iraq, Syria and the UAE - three nations that share a similar culture with Lebanon, and familiar to what Lebanon had performed. Lebanon has never won against Iraq, only beat the UAE, Iran and South Korea once; while its form against Syria is recently better with three wins and two draws out of five recent encounters. Perhaps except for Syria, Lebanon found hard to even draw the remaining sides when the elements of surprise have already lost.

Not to mention about the coaching change. Lebanon has no high-profile native managers, and its recent achievements are built from the bulks of teachers from Europe. The German Theo Bückner, the Italian Giuseppe Giannini, the Romanian Liviu Ciobotariu and notably, the Montenegrin Miodrag Radulović (now coach of Montenegro) shaped and taught Lebanese players how to play. Liviu Ciobotariu left the country amidst the economic crisis and now the Cedars are under Jamal Taha, an Egyptian who represented Lebanon in 2000 AFC Asian Cup as its captain and has little coaching knowledge.

Lebanon still has some brighter side. Its playmaker and the soul of Lebanon, Hassan Maatouk, will be available for the final phase after wrestling with an injury. Outside Maatouk also Hilal El-Helwe, a profilic goalscorer born in Germany. Still, Lebanon, lacks a sufficient youth system, has to use the vast and diverse diaspora resource to improve the Cedars' performance. Most of Lebanese players today, half of them are from another countries.

If Lebanon ever really wants to survive in a group like this, it needs more than luck. And something has not gone into the way. Ultimately, it can pay a heavy price if Lebanon can really make its mark. But everything is possible, and millions of Lebanese are going to cheer for Lebanon with the hope to see Lebanon surprise again.