Nehru Cup: India hope to end title drought in Syria clash

By IANS

New Delhi : A resurgent and fighting India will look to end their Nehru Cup title drought when they face Syria in their maiden final appearance at the Ambedkar Stadium here Wednesday.


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For the hosts, under the guidance of new British coach Bob Houghton, it has been a good campaign so far barring a 2-3 loss to Syria in the league stage.

“When you play against a team like Syria you have to be at your best. I think among the Gulf countries Syria is the best team at the moment. So it will be a tough 90 minutes for us,” said Houghton after the team’s practice session at Janaki Devi Memorial College.

“Some said that they (Syria) have come with a second team as some of their front line players are missing. But I think all these things are false,” he said.

India gave a tough fight to Syria before losing out in the last match. In the afternoon, before the practice session, the team management analysed the footage of the match and also of the Kyrgyzstan match, which the hosts won 3-0.

“If we play the same (fighting game) as we did in the last match against Syria, then I think we will win the final. But we really need to play well and can’t give them any chance,” said Houghton.

When asked what difference it would make if India wins or loses the tournament, Houghton said: “In real football terms it won’t make much of a difference. But if you look at the profile of the game then I think it will make a huge difference.

“Companies like Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) are investing in football and if we win then more companies will come forward to support the game. When these companies invest they do a lot of research in what they would get back after sponsoring such events. So I think from this perspective it would really make a difference.”

Never before has the Indian team, ranked 151st in the FIFA rankings, looked so attacking and confident as they have all through this tournament. And if they keep up the same performance, then they can beat the 112th-ranked Syria. The best finish by the hosts in the Nehru Cup was a semi-final finish in 1997 in Kochi under the guidance of Syed Nayeemudin.

India captain Bhaichung Bhutia has led the team from the front and his striking power has looked sharper than ever before, but he hasn’t got enough support from his striking partner Sunil Chettri. But the Indian captain has no issues about it and said: “All these things are part of the game.”

“It will be a tough test for us. They are obviously a better team but we cannot predict results. We have worked a lot for this day,” said Bhutia.

Chettri has been good in patches and also netted in four goals in the tournament, but is far from giving a consistent performance. But it seems that Houghton has enough faith on Chettri, despite the fact that the JCT striker has been guilty of squandering easy chances.

The only change in the starting eleven will be Ajayan Nair replacing Renedy Singh on the right wing. Otherwise it will the same midfield with Steven Dias on the right and Climax Lawrence and N.P. Pradeep in the centre.

“The main reason in bringing in Ajayan is that he is fresh. I need some fresh legs for the final. You can see the difference Abhishek (Yadav), Clifford (Miranda) and Ajayan made after they came in as replacement in the match against Kyrgyzstan,” said Houghton.

N.S. Manju, Surkumar Singh, Gourmangi Singh and Mahesh Gawli will be manning the defence with Subrato Paul under the bar.

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