Syria win maiden Intercontinental Cup title after beating India 3-0

Indian football team's hopes of winning the Intercontinental Cup title for the third time was dashed as it lost to Syria 0-3 in the last league match of the three-nation tournament here on Monday. Mahmoud Al Aswad and Daleho Mohsen Irandust scored for Syria in the seventh and 77th minutes to break the hearts of the home crowd at the GMC Balayogi Athletics Stadium. While Pablo Sabbag's strike in the injury time was a mere underlining of Syria's dominance. The result meant that Manolo Marquez began his stint as India head coach, after succeeding Igor Stimac, on a disappointing note.

He was appointed at the helm of affairs in July. Syria had beaten Mauritius 2-0 in their opening match and they thus ended the round-robin league with six points. India and Mauritius finished the tournament on one point each after playing out a goalless draw on September 3. The highest-ranked team after the round-robin league wins the tournament as there is no concept of final. India had won the title in 2018 and 2023, while it was the first trophy for Syria who had finished third in 2019. In fact, this was the first time Syria won a title on Indian soil.

The West Asian country has a long history of playing tournaments in India, but a title has eluded them before Monday. Syria lost back-to-back Nehru Cup finals to India in 2007 and 2009 before finishing fourth in 2012. In their last trip to India in the 2019 Intercontinental Cup, Syria ended in third place. In that tournament, the two teams played out a 1-1 draw. In the last meeting between the two teams, Syria had beaten India 1-0 in the Asian Cup in Qatar in January, this year. India made a horrendous start in the match as they conceded a goal in the seventh minute. After a brilliant attack down the right flank, Al Aswad's shot went in after a deflection from an Indian defender.

Three minutes later, Alaa Aldin Yasin Dali's shot from a distance rattled the crossbar and India escaped from conceding their second goal. The West Asians were in command in the first half as Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was called into action to thwart another goal-bound move from the Syrians in the 35th minute as he kept out an attempt from Dali again off a corner. But towards the end of the first half, India began to gain a foothold in the contest and made some fine attacking moves but failed to get the desired result.

India were definitely the better side in the second half but still conceded two more goals without opening account for themselves. The Indian forwards had at least a couple of chances in the second 45 minutes but they failed to convert them.