Ever since civil war broke out in the country, Syria have been banned from playing home games in their own country and in fact were one day away from being thrown out of the 2018 World Cup only for Malaysia to swoop in at the last minute and offer to host all of Syria's home games. Syria had a large upturn in fortune as they made it to 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification – AFC Fourth Round but were eliminated by Australia 3-2 on aggregate.