Another tournament, another poor performance and the cycle continues. And following the tradition from the AFC Asian Cup, India fails to score a single game in the entirety of the tournament. Hosts, India Football Team were completely outclassed and outplayed by Syria who with 2 wins, go on to lift the Intercontinental Cup trophy. As for India, under new manager Manolo Marquez, the ghosts of the past continues.
Not the start that India were hoping for. The Eagles of Qasioun grabbed the goal as early as on the 7th minute of the game. The visitors started the game showcasing their dominance from the very first minute. While Lallianzuala Chhangte tried to build up on the half chances, it was Mahmoud Alaswad who opened the scoring for Syria.
Syria Strike Early
Mohsen Irandust took a couple of defenders on the right flank before laying off to the eventual scorer. After a bit if scuffle in the box, Al-Aswad opened scored for the Eagles as the Gachibowli stadium engulfed into a pin drop silence.
India looked rattled after the early goal as Syria looked to pile on the misery again. Syria came agonisingly close to double their lead as Yasin Dali’s shot hit the crossbar despite the best attempts of a diving Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to avert the danger.
Yasin Dali was again in the thick of things. He can tantalisingly close yet again after receiving the first yellow card of the game. The Syrian forward came one-on-one with Gurpreet only to shoot the ball wide of the second post from a close distance.
India pile Pressure
At the half hour mark, after some stern shouts from Manolo Marquez, it looked like India finally awoke form their slumber. Subhasish Bose’s launched a good cross from the left which was squandered by Chhangte with a poor header. In the very next move down the right flank, Sahal’s whipped in cross was collected by the Syrian goalie.
In the 35th minute of the game, Syria got another golden chance to double their tally. The move started from a corner, a low grounder shot saw a scramble in the boss. Yasin Dali tried to tap in the goal, only to meet a diving Gurpreet to save India from the blushes for the n-th time in the game.
In the dying minutes of the first half, India came close to see the dight of the goal. After some relentless pressing Sahal picked up a loose ball to hit with his weak foot. But the ball was parried away by the Syrian goalie. While the ball bounced off a couple of times, to-and fro, the half eventually came to an end, much to the disappointment of the Hyderabadi crowd.
Close, yet so Far away
India made two changes in the half time as Apuia came on to replace Suresh while Asish Rai replaced Nikhil Poorary. The hosts continued to pile on the pressure as India looked desperate to get the equaliser. With India’s pressure Syria were withdrawn to a counter style of game play.
Sahal Abdul Samad single handedly carried a ball from inside of his own half to lay off a perfect pass to Chhangte. But the Mumbai City FC skipper took a touch too many to hit straight at the goalie who dived to his right to put out a blinding save. At the hour mark, India got another chance to pull back the equaliser. Sahal with a clever dribble inside the box crossed it to Manvir whose header was cleared out, only to fall in the path of Chhangte whose shot from close range was blocked.
India continued to launch barrages of attacks in the second half. Naorem Mahesh drifted wide to cross a ball to Nandha who mistimed his shot. And Chhangte’s full stretched attmpted to tap the ball into the back of the net saw the ball going out for a goal kick.
Game Set and Done
A sheer moment of brilliance saw Syria claim their second goal of the game. A long cross from the center back saw the ball launched towards Irandust. The number 9 drifted forward, exchanged a quick one-touch Pablo Sabbag to drift towards the right flank. He cut inside India’s box, dodged past a defender and then went on to beat Gurpreet on his second post with a wicked left foot. And with that it was surely game over for India.
Manolo Marquez threw the last roll of the dice as he introduced Edmund and Liston Colaco in the dying embers of the game. Manvir and Nandha walked off as India looked exhausted and unmotivated to continue the last 13 minutes of the game.
In the dying minutes of the game, India got three back to back chances but failed to convert their chances. Edmund single handedly ran through the Syrian defense to unleash a thunderbolt, but the goalie parried it away. From the resulting corner, Naorem Mahesh’s shot was blocked. And then from the last corner, Chhangte’s acrobatic effort hit the crossbar, to sum up India’s performance in the tournament. Liston in the ending seconds launced a piledriver, a howler from the keeper saw the ball hitting the crossbar and deflecting it wide.
But the misery was yet to be over. Sabbad made it 3-0 to end the tie. A quick counter attack from Syria saw the Indian defence being ripped to shreds. With a clever tap-in, Sabbad picked an out of positioned Gurpreet to put the ball back into the empty net.
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