And on Tuesday night, he'll be out at the Socceroos versus Syria FIFA World Cup qualifier, protesting a team he views as pawns for al-Assad's dictatorship. U.S. sports site espn.com ran a fantastic story by sports journalist Steve Fainaru about the Syrian team a little earlier this year. "The coach, Fajer Ebrahim, used the World Cup platform to proclaim Assad the 'best man in the world'." Win that series and you're into the World Cup. Much of the story focused on Firas al-Khatib, a star player who boycotted the Syrian team for many years after Assad's forces bombed and starved his home town.

Source: Huffington Post October 10, 2017 06:22 UTC