India’s football team suffered a 3-0 defeat to Syria as their hopes of lifting the Intercontinental Cup title for the third time ended on Monday, September 9. Mahmoud Al Aswad, Daleho Mohsen Irandust and Pablo Sabbag scored the goals for Syria as India drew 0-0 in the final match of the league stage of the three-team tournament.
On 3 September, India had been held to a goalless draw by Mauritius, earning only one point. The Intercontinental Cup is a round-robin tournament where the team that finishes on top after the league stage matches wins the title and there is no final.
While India failed to beat Mauritius, Syria had beaten them 2-0 in their opening match and came with three points into the match against India. After their win over the Blue Tigers, they finished the league stage on top with six points, while the other two teams have one point each.
In the seventh minute, Al Aswad opened the scoring with a goal. Following an attack down the right flank, Al Aswad’s shot went into the goal after a deflection off an Indian defender. The Indian team was under pressure but somehow managed to go into the break 0-1.
In the second half, the Blue Tigers were better than both teams and had their chances. Nikhil Poojary and Suresh Singh came on the field in place of Asish Rai and Apuia for the second half. Sahal Abdul Samad had a good run on the Syrian defence in the 55th minute and sent a good ball to Lallianzuala Chhangte, who failed to send the ball past the goalkeeper.
Syria doubled its lead in the 77th minute when Daleho Mohsen outskilled Anwar Ali from the right side of the goal and sent the ball past Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh. Substitute Edmund Lalrindika tried to give India the lead with a goal in the latter part of the match, but his shot was saved by the Syrian goalkeeper. A little later, Pablo David Sabbag scored the third goal, which put Syria 3-0 up and ended the match.
This was the first time Syria had won the title in the tournament’s first four seasons. India had won the first title in 2018 before North Korea won it in 2019. The Indian team was the defending champion, having won the title in 2023.
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