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#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.
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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.
