Asian Cup: Blue Tigers preying on Syrian Eagles

PTI

Al Khor, January 22

Winless and pointless after losing two group matches, India need nothing more than a win against a tricky Syria to keep alive their faint hopes of making the knockout stage of the AFC Asian Cup here tomorrow.

A 0-2 and 0-3 defeat to Australia and Uzbekistan, respectively, laid bare the gulf India need to bridge with the top teams of the continent but a win against Syria can salvage some pride for the Sunil Chhetri-led side.

Syria are currently ranked 91st in the FIFA rankings, 11 places above India (102nd) but a victory is not impossible for the Igor Stimac-coached side as they have beaten them in the past – in 2007, 2009 and 2012 Nehru Cup tournaments.

They are a physical side that play a compact 4-4-2 system. But they have also been facing similar problems as us — scoring goals. —IGOR Stimac, India Coach

The last time the two sides met, the match ended in a 1-1 draw in the 2019 Intercontinental Cup in Ahmedabad, and Stimac was also the coach then.

India will finish third in Group B if they beat Syria at Al Bayt Stadium but even that will not guarantee them a place in the Round of 16.

With a goal difference of minus five — the deciding factor if teams are tied on points — after two matches, it may be difficult for India to be one of the four third-placed teams out of six to progress to the knockout stage.

The last group matches will be held on Thursday (Group E and F) and India will have to wait till then to know their fate.

India adopted an ultra-defensive approach against the mighty Australians who have been a regular in the FIFA World Cup for some time but they tried to express themselves a bit in the match against Uzbekistan and, coupled with some costly mistakes by defenders, they failed to put up a good fight.

Scoring issues

Usually highly reliable in front of goal, Chhetri has also been not at his best as evident against Australia and Uzbekistan, though nobody can fault him as he has been the lone ranger most of the times to get goals for India for many years.

“Syria are not much different from those two teams (Australia and Uzbekistan), in that they are a very physical team. The good thing is that we have already played two matches against such sides. We can’t change what’s happened in these matches, what we can do is to rectify the small mistakes that we’ve made,” said Chhetri.

Syria, who have one point from two matches, will also be looking for a win as doing so will boost their knockout prospects.

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