AFC Asian Cup: Goalless and pointless, India eye big improvement against Syria and helpful results elsewhere to boost R16 hopes

If in Australia and Uzbekistan, India found top Asian teams looking to win the biggest football prize in the continent, against Syria, they find kinship in goals moving forward, even though both teams have found goals hard to come by. While Syria have a point from two games thanks to a 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan and can go through to the Round of 16 with a win against India, it’s a lot tougher for Igor Stimac’s team, who have conceded five goals over two games and not scored a single one of their own.

The top two teams from each of the six groups go through. With these 12 teams, four of the best third-placed teams will comprise the Round of 16.

Even a win against the Syrians can’t guarantee a spot in the last 16 for India, who also must hope a host of results go their way in other groups. Syria come with the same set of physical attributes that have troubled the Indians at this tournament. However, it’s the lack of goals scored that needs to change. Striker Sunil Chhetri, playing in his third AFC Asian Cup, spoke about how India being goalless and pointless at this stage of the tournament has simply been a matter of misfired attempts in front of the target.

“The problem is that India and I haven’t scored. We don’t go into the game thinking we don’t want to score. We had chances against Uzbekistan and Australia,” said Chhetri in the pre-match conference on Monday. “I can assure you that we haven’t scored not because of lack of want but we missed chances. The chances they (opponents) got went in. That’s the margin in this tournament. Come tomorrow, we hope to change that.”

In his previous two appearances in the Asian Cup, Chhetri was responsible for the lion’s share of India’s goals. They scored three in the 2011 edition