Syria held Iran to a 0-0 draw in its FIFA World Cup Russia 2018 qualifier at a drenched Tuanku Abdul Rahman Stadium in Malaysia on Tuesday.
Iran stayed top of Group A with 11 points from the first five games in the third round of qualification and Syria remained in fourth with five points after five games.
"We knew that the match against Iran would be difficult as they are a strong team, which they proved again today," said Hakeem.
"The conditions were difficult for both teams but we worked very hard to get the result. It is hard to score against Iran but we did stop them from scoring."
“We would have liked to create more opportunities going forward but this was not easy to do. We worked hard for each other and were rewarded with a good result. We'll have to keep doing the same over the next five games,” the Syrian coach concluded.