Hero Intercontinental Cup 2019: 3 Reasons why India drew 1-1 with Syria

#2 Glimpses of brilliance in offence despite Syria's hard-nosed defence

Chhetri couldn't get much space in the match

Whenever Indian captain Sunil Chhetri takes the field, he always wants to get the ball into the back of the net in the next 90 minutes. He has done so 71 times in his career as an Indian player, but the game the against Syria on Tuesday turned out to a difficult outing for India's record goalscorer.

Syria had to win to make it to the final. So, they didn’t want to take any chance. Chhetri, the main threat for India, was closed out as soon as the game started. Mohammed Fares did an impeccable job in central defence. He matched the run and speed of Chhetri and executed his team’s plan beautifully. The Indian captain did show some glimpses of his true calibre, including a defence-splitting pass to Udanta Singh in the second half, but couldn’t get a goal.

In the first half an hour of the game, there wasn't much movement and Syrian players took control. India were mainly attacking through the right side as Lallianzuala Chhangte was not looking at his best then.

However, as the game went on, Sahal Abdul Samad and Anirudh Thapa started showing their talent as India interchanged wings, exhibited more creativity in the midfield, and became aggressive.