Abu Dhabi: Given the tag of ‘underdogs’ India will look at their impressive results in recent months for inspiration when they open their AFC Asian Cup campaign against Thailand here Sunday.
With the continental showpiece event being expanded to 24 teams for the first time from the earlier 16, the Blue Tigers have a real chance to make it to the knockouts in their fourth appearance. India finished runners-up behind hosts Israel in 1964 which both in 1984 and 2011 editions, they were knocked out at the group stage.
For India they are entering into the tournament on the back of goalless stalemates against World Cup-winning Italian coach Marcello Lippi’s China and Oman in the lead-up to the tournament. They lost narrowly 1-2 to Jordan in their third big match.
Defense will be one of the key factors for India against a Thailand team that scored a lot of goals and also the semifinals at the recent ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Championship. Though India (97th) are highly ranked against their opponent’s 118th, but rankings will hardly matter in the continental showpiece.
India will look to their talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri to get them the goals, but the recent form of his strike partner Jeje Lalpekhlua could be a cause for concern. The Mizo, though, has it in him to produce an impressive performance.
Sandesh Jhingan has spearheaded the defence well and he will pair up with Anas Edathodika at the heart of the backline. Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu has been in top form as the last defensive bulwark.
In the wings, head coach Stephen Constantine will look forward to Udanta Singh and Halicharan Narzary, to supply enough deliveries upfront for Chhetri and Lalpekhlua.
On the other hand, Thailand’s best result in the continental championship came in 1972 when they finished third. Since then, they have failed to overcome the group stage hurdle in all the five occasions they qualified for the final round.
But head coach Milovan Rajevac, who guided Ghana to quarterfinals in 2010 World Cup, named all the foreign-based players for the Asian Cup to strengthen the team. However, Thailand will be missing the services of Belgium based goalkeeper Kawin Thamsatchanan who was ruled out last week due to injury.
Majority of the Thai players ply their trade in the Japanese League including captain and striker Teerasil Dangda while full-back Bunmathan plays for Vissel Kobe on loan alongside Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta.
According to calculations, Sunday’s encounter against Thailand will crucial for India as a win will boost their chances of qualifying for the knockouts. If India manage to beat Thailand, they just need a draw from their next two games against hosts UAE (January 10) and Bahrain (January 14) to qualify for the knockouts.