Mongolia, the lowest-ranked team in the Intercontinental Cup, will look to build on its valiant defensive display, hoping for a miracle to make it to the final on June 18.
The Blue Wolves have odds stacked against them, with a loss and a draw to its name, but are mathematically still in the race, ahead of their clash against Vanuatu in the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday.
To qualify, Mongolia will have to beat Vanuatu and finish with a higher goal difference (GD) than that of Lebanon while the Cedars will have to lose to India.
Mongolia sits third with a goal difference of -2 while Lebanon is second at +2. In case both teams get level on goal difference, the goal scored and goals conceded will be taken into account, given that their head-to-head was a draw.
Points table
| Position | Team | Matches | Won | Drew | Lost | GF | GA | GD | Points |
| 1 | India (H) (Qualified) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| 2 | Lebanon | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | Mongolia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
| 4 | Vanuatu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | -3 | 0 |
Ichiro Otsuka’s side started an almost new side (10 changes from the previous match) in its clash against Lebanon and will hope to bring its prodigy Ganbayar Ganbold back into the starting XI.
Ganbold, the first player from his country to sign for a European side (Puskas Academia in 2018) had shown promise in the first game but had little impact in the second, coming on as a substitute. In what may just be its last game, Mongolia would look to have the No. 7 upfront.
Vanuatu, on the other hand, will be playing just for pride, with its loss to India eliminating it from the tournament.
It looked to have learnt from its mistake of subbing off captain Brian Kaltack early (vs Lebanon in the first game), with the defender playing the entire 90 minutes against India.
Though Brian, along with Jason Thomas has been solid at the back, the lack of man-marking during set-pieces has made the team suffer, conceding three of its four goals from crosses in the last two games.
Forward Alex Saniel, who was Vanuatu’s only ray of hope, in terms of attacking threat against India, will be the target man for the final game as well.
“The most important thing I can say is that we are here to change our FIFA ranking. This is one of our objectives in this tournament, but we will continue to play until we finish,” Etienne Mermer told the media.
“Last match is with Mongolia and I believe we will continue to play good football. If lucky, we will beat Mongolia in the last game.”
On the other hand, Mongolia will need more than just luck – a bag full of goals and a balanced approach, both in front and at the back, in contrast to its conventional defensive plan of a five-man back-line so far in the tournament.
That will be the key battle in the game – a desperate side looking to capitalise on its extremely narrow possibility of making it to the final against an eliminated side fighting for its very first point in its last game in the tournament.
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