Syria was given a dubious penalty when one of their players fell over, possibly tripped by a teammate, in the box.

Omar Al Somah stepped up and slotted the spot kick to make it 2-2.

After the match Cornthwaite said: "The pictures speak for themselves. There wasn’t anyone even near him.

"They were desperate towards the end. There’s no intent there, he’s never going to get to the ball. In the end Australia probably did enough to earn the three points."

 


Slater described the second half of the match as "crazy".

"I thought they had a penalty with the Milligan handball — the one they got was farcical — but job done,” he said.

"Two wins in a row now but we’ve got to improve. We’ve got to be more lethal and clinical in the front third."

After the game Socceroos coach Graham Arnold admitted he had no idea why the controversial penalty was awarded.

"No [I don’t have any idea] but I’ll leave that up to you guys," he said.

"I haven’t seen a replay of it, but it made the last five minutes exciting."