If carefully observed, sometimes, it is not only the on-pitch proceedings that reflect a team’s intent. Off the pitch, certain quips or exchanges of words say a lot about the confidence level of an outfit.
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A classic example was a post-match incident after Syria’s win against Mauritius in their 2024 Intercontinental Cup match at the GMC Balayogi Athletic Stadium on Friday.
During the trophy unveiling, a member of the organising committee requested Syria’s head coach, Jose Lana, to touch the trophy and pose for a photograph with Manolo Marquez and Guillaume Moullec, the respective head coaches of India and Mauritius.
Lana denied the request, shaking his head, and replied, “I will touch it after we win.”
Confidence or overconfidence - conceive it how you may. But India’s boss Manolo saw humour behind Lana’s reply, giving his Spanish counterpart a warm handshake as both shared a laugh. If the cameras were close enough to record this entire exchange, it had the makings of the promo for the tournament decider between India and Syria.
As the general law in the animal kingdom goes, an eagle may choose not to hunt during rainy or wet conditions. However, the Eagles of Qasioun braved the torrential Hyderabad downpour and adapted superbly to the wet pitch of the Gachibowli Stadium.
The Dodos, weaker on paper, did not go down without a fight, but in the end, the Syrian Eagles proved too formidable an opponent as they completed the contest with a 2-0 win.
How did Syria adapt to the conditions?
Syria captain and ‘Man of the Match’ against Mauritius, Mahmoud Al-Mawas, said that they had resorted to a tactical shift after the pre-match warmup, where they saw that the ball was not moving as smoothly as usual. Without divulging too much, Mawas said that the instruction was not to resort to long balls in the final third, which would have benefited their 6’2’’ forward Pablo Sabbag in ideal conditions.
What Syria did to adapt was create a small pocket in midfield, where Elmar Abraham, Mustafa Abdullatif, and Mohamad Al Hallak formed a triangle. Despite getting pegged back inside their half in the opening minutes due to Mauritius’ early surge, Syria dominated the ball through the middle once the intensity of the press decreased, playing short passes amongst themselves and making its opponent chase the ball.
Mawas, who started on the right flank, often joined Sabbag as the second striker lest the latter gets isolated between the robust centre-back duo of Lyndsay Rose and Dyland Collard. Mauritius midfielders Emmanuel Vincent and Adel Langue remained committed to breaking the triangle, leaving their fullbacks Wilson Mootoo and Brendon Citorah completely isolated.
As a result, Syria’s wingers Mawas and Mohammad Al Marmour got plenty of opportunities to make runs behind the last line of defence, with Syria’s midfield triangle keeping the supply line open. And without the defensive support of Vincent and Langue, centre-backs Rose and Collard often had to put on a double shift to compete with the attacking surge of Syria.
However, Lana’s men did not waste their shots. It was a mature display of football by the Syrians, who picked their moments perfectly and knew when to shoot. Compared to the 15 shots by Mauritius, Syria had just seven. However, three of Syria’s seven were on target (42.85 per cent) compared to Mauritius’ two out of 15 (13.33 per cent).
READ | Intercontinental Cup 2024: Syria cruises past Mauritius to go on top of the standings
What India needs to be wary of?
Football has multiple combinations and endless outcomes, making it difficult to predict how the India vs Syria battle will unfold on Monday.
The Indian Meteorological Department has said Hyderabad will continue to experience moderate to heavy rains till September 11, and a yellow alert has been issued. Therefore, there is a high chance that India will play the tournament decider against Syria on September 9 in wet conditions.
If Syria decides to employ a similar midfield triangle; the Blue Tigers’ double pivot of Lalengmawia (Apuia) Ralte and Jeakson Singh will need to maintain a balance between committing and staying back to support their backline.
If Manolo decides on a defensive midfield trio, he can opt to start Anirudh Thapa as the advanced player instead of Sahal Abdul Samad as he did in the first match because Thapa’s defensive capabilities and ability to track back are better than that of Sahal.
While India’s centre-back duo will focus on Sabbag, who is the No.9, going by Syria’s tournament opener, Mawas will be the most threatening player in the forward line of the Eagles. Operating on the right flank, the experienced Subhasish Bose will have the responsibility of dealing with Mawas, if Manolo stays true to his words and starts Bose instead of Jay Gupta as the left fullback. On the right, Nikhil Poojary will need to handle Al Marmour.
However, above all, India’s biggest challenge will be to counter the maturity of the Syrian players, who seem to be in sync. On the other hand, this Indian team, under its new coach, was often clueless in the final third in their opening match against Mauritius.
Leading up to Syria’s first goal against Mauritius, Mawas showed the vision to slip a ball to the overlapping Sabbag despite being in a tight position on the right side of Mauritius’ penalty area. Completely unmarked, Sabbag found Mustafa Abdullatif with a cutback and the latter guided the ball into the net.
In an exactly similar situation in the India vs Mauritius opening fixture, Lallianzuala Chhangte had done extremely well to draw in two players, thus leaving the overlapping Asish Rai completely unmarked. A little vision would have allowed him to see that and pass the ball to India’s right fullback, who would have had ample time and space to find Manvir Singh with a cutback. However, what followed was a backpass to Thapa, relieving all the pressure from the Mauritian defenders, and allowing them to get back in shape.
Mauritius’ character and attacking intent against Syria was significantly greater than what India displayed in its tournament opener. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that individual quality and home support will not get India across the finish line against Syrians on September 9.
It would need to perform as a unit and overcome the mental block, which is likely considering Syria beat India (1-0) to sound the death knell of the latter’s AFC Asian Cup campaign earlier this year.
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