By IANS
New Delhi : After a month-long preparation, overseas camp and back-to-back victories in the ongoing ONGC Nehru Cup football tournament, India coach Bob Houghton will face his first big test when his wards take on Syria here Thursday.
The Indian team is riding high beating Cambodia 6-0 and neighbours Bangladesh 1-0 but Houghton sounded cautious on the eve of the match saying: “A win against Syria won’t mean that we are world beaters and a loss won’t mean that we haven’t made any progress.”
It has been over a year since the 58-year-old took charge of the national team and has done quite well to keep the players together, away from club commitments, for a long time and prepare hard for this tournament.
So far things have moved according to Houghton’s plans as India jumped 11 places to be placed 151st in the latest FIFA rankings released Wednesday, as both wins here were taken into account.
So far so good for the Indian team, but this ‘feel-good’ factor will face a tough challenge against Syria, who also moved up one place to 112.
Syria in their first match against Bangladesh never looked impressive but still managed a 2-0 win but against Kyrgyzstan they stamped their class. They won 4-1 and the only goal they conceded was of their own doing.
Kyrgyzstan started the tournament ranked 152 but slipped one place in the rankings and are now behind India.
Syrian captain Maher Al Sayed has been the key to the team’s success.
The India coach is aware of the danger the player poses but ruled out any specific policing against Al Sayed.
“In the first match he played up front but in the second match he was playing as a withdrawn forward. We don’t have any plans of man marking,” said Houghton after the team’s practice session at the Janaki Devi Mahavidyalaya.
Against a formidable Syrian attack, there is bad news for India as defender Deepak Mondal has been ruled out with a knee injury he suffered against Bangladesh and may not take any further part in the tournament.
The burly Gourmangi Singh will replace Mondal and the good news is that midfielder N.P. Pradeep is back in the side. To strengthen the midfield Clifford Miranda, who came on as a substitute in the first two games, will feature in the starting line-up replacing the lacklustre Renedy Singh.
“It is good to have some fresh legs back in the side and it is good to have Pradeep and Clifford back,” said Houghton.
Bhaichung Bhutia and Sunil Chettri will be leading the attack with Miranda, Climax Lawrence, Pradeep and Steven Dias providing the midfield supply.
In defence, Gourmangi joins N.S. Manju, Surkumar Singh and Mahesh Gawli with Subroto Paul in goal.
For Syria, coach Fajer Ibrahim will be under pressure as his team is the top ranked outfit in the tournament.
“Pressure will be on us but we are ready for the challenge. There is a huge difference between our standard and India’s. We have been serious with this game for quite some time and India has started taking it seriously only recently,” said Ibrahim.