India and Syria
Intercontinental Cup: The Indian football team’s hopes of winning the Intercontinental Cup title for the third time were shattered with a 0-3 defeat to Syria. Syria’s players have performed brilliantly in the last match against India. On the other hand, India’s players could not score a single goal. The Indian team players created many chances to score goals, but did not succeed. Manolo Marquez, who became the head coach of the Indian team after Igor Stimac, started his tenure in a disappointing manner. He was handed over the reins of the team in July.
Three players scored goals for Syria
In the last match of this three-nation tournament, Mahmoud Al Aswad (7th), Daleho Irandust (76th) and Pablo Sabbagh (90+6 minutes) scored goals for Syria and played an important role in the team’s victory. Syria defeated Mauritius 2-0. Syria finished its campaign at the top of the table with six points.
India lost one match and drew one
India was earlier held to a goalless draw by Mauritius on September 3, while both India and Mauritius had one point each. India has played a total of two matches in the tournament, losing one and drawing one. There is no final match in this tournament and the team that scores the most points after the round-robin matches wins the tournament.
India won the Intercontinental Cup title in 2018 and 2023, while this is the first trophy for Syria, who finished third in 2019. This is the first time Syria has won a title on Indian soil. The West Asian country has a long history of playing tournaments in India, but before Monday it had not won a single title. Syria lost to India in the Nehru Cup final in 2007 and 2009 while the team finished fourth in the tournament in 2012. On its last tour of India, Syria finished third in the Intercontinental Cup in 2019. During this, it played a 1-1 draw against India. In the last encounter between the two teams, Syria defeated India 1-0 in the Asian Cup in Qatar in January.
(Input: PTI)
Also read:
Rinku Singh: Rinku Singh is ready to join the squad, can be a part of this team
Will Sarfaraz Khan be out of the playing 11? Rahul may get the benefit of this; Indications found in the report