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The Indian national football team was scheduled to face Syria on 30th December in the run-up to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Although the AIFF didn't confirm it via a press release, inside sources revealed that the match had almost been finalized.
However, it appears that the match against Syria has been brushed under the carpet and, the Blue Tigers will be facing a UAE-based club on Dec 30.
India's group opponents Thailand have just played the AFF Suzuki Cup and would cross swords with Oman on 2nd January. The hosts, UAE, are keeping their cards closed to the chest whereas Bahrain will be facing Tajikistan on Dec 20.
India will embark their 2019 AFC Asian Cup journey after locking horns with Oman and a UAE-based club. However, a match against Syria would have been good for the team.
In this article, we present 5 reasons why India should have played Syria and not a UAE-based club.
#5 Syria ranked higher than China and Oman
Let's dwell deep into all the opponents India faced in this calendar year and assess their performance. The Blue Tigers kickstarted 2018 with a 1-2 loss against then 115th-ranked Kyrgyz Republic in their own den on 27th March.
They followed it up by crushing the second-string sides of 121st-ranked Chinese Taipei 5-0 and 111th-ranked Kenya 3-0, before being humbled by the U-21 side of 133rd-ranked New Zealand 1-2 in the group stages of Intercontinental Cup. However, the Indian football team clinched the title by defeating Kenya 2-0 in the final to end June on a high.
Stephen Constantine then decided to field a U-23 side in the SAFF Cup. This side recorded a 2-0 win over 200th-ranked Sri Lanka and 150th-ranked Maldives in the group stages of the SAFF Cup. In the semi-finals, they beat a 201st-ranked Pakistan 3-1 before suffering a 1-2 defeat at the hands of Maldives in the final.
On 13th October, India put up a fortuitous but valiant effort against 76th-ranked China in the 0-0 draw in the fire-breathing caves of the Red Dragons. However, they failed to draw inspiration from the accomplishment and lost 1-2 to 112th-ranked Jordan.
ALSO READ: Players' ordeal before friendly against Jordan
Syria is currently ranked 74th and, a match against the Qasion Eagles in the venue where the continental extravaganza (Abu Dhabi) would be held would have been immensely helpful for India.
The FIFA rankings are a rough indication of a team's ability. The Syrian football team is ranked higher than all the countries India has faced in 2018. Not facing them in December is a golden opportunity missed.
#4 UAE based club will not have a full-fledged side
While preparing your side for a tournament, crossing swords with local clubs can be a good idea. The players are much familiar with their teammates and, they know their home ground like the back of the hand.
However, whichever top UAE-based club Stephen Constantine will face, that team will have its key players missing as they would be a part of the national team setup of UAE.
In the friendly against Yemen, two players from the current league leaders Sharjah FC, five players from the second-placed Al-Jazira, and three players from the third-placed Al-Ain constituted the 21-member squad.
So, if the AIFF arranges a friendly with either of these top-three clubs, the Indian team would again have to be content with battling out second-string sides. Moreover, the match would be played out in the middle of their UAE Pro-League. A smart and shrewd manager could use it to test their U-21 side.
#3 Respecting the previous ties between Syrian and Indian football
Before the Tri-Nation and Inter-Continental Cup, India had the Nehru Cup. After being held continuously from 1982 to 1987, the Nehru Cup was reinvigorated by the AIFF in 2007 so that the Indian football team can play regular friendlies against top-ranked teams.
However, mainly its lower-ranked South Asian neighbours Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka responded, with Syria being the only West-Asian country to participate in 2007, 2009, and the final 2012 edition.
Both the countries have grown leaps and bounds since then. While India managed to break into the top 100 of FIFA rankings, Syria came agonizingly close to qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
India should have respected the previous ties with Syria and participated in the friendly against the war-torn nation rather than backing out.
#2 Apart from Yemen, Syria not playing anyone
Even if we don't take into account the national team ranking, we must acknowledge that Syria is a strong team. The players are warriors in the sense that they battle odds like war and destruction to play football.
However, Syria isn't playing a single friendly match in the build-up to the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. That puts India in a position of strength and not Syria. However, the AIFF apologized to the Syrian Arab Federation for Football and canceled the friendly. They would now have to be content with playing the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, Yemen, on the given day.
Syria is in the group of Australia and would have come prepared well to qualify for next round. India had to gain more than Syria by playing them.
#1 India shouldn't say 'No' to a team from Asian Cup
At the press conference on Wednesday, Stephen Constantine mentioned that Iran coach Carlos Queiroz had requested him to schedule a friendly match against India on 27th December. However, he unwillingly shrugged it off due to a fixture clash against Oman on the same day.
Moreover, he iterated that the AIFF had sent out letters to 15-20 federations asking for friendlies in UAE. But, they all refused. And, here is a country with whom the deal was done.
Instead, they are slated to play a club side. It makes absolutely no sense because you need to play other strong countries in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup to prepare for the tournament. Constantine keeps saying we need to play other countries lot more. However, when someone comes up, he rejects the suggestion.
