Asian Games Football Tournament Preview: India U-23 vs UAE U-23

Venue: Hwaseong Stadium, South Korea

Kickoff: Monday, September 15 2014, 13:30 IST

Point to prove

India U-23 have a point to prove in the opener; Photo Credit: AIFF Media

For a while it looked like the India U-23 football team won’t get to participate in the 2014 Asian Games as it was among the disciplines where India are not medal prospects. The defeat to Pakistan in Bangalore last month also weakened the U-23 team’s case and even a week before their opening game against UAE their participation was uncertain although they had exposure tours in Czech Republic and China. However eventually they were cleared to compete at government cost but only reached South Korea just 48 hours before that clash with UAE. Wim Koevermans’ side will come into this game as overwhelming underdogs but even if they don’t win, the Indian colts must produce a respectable performance because an early embarrassing exit will give the government a big reason of not clearing the football team for the next edition.

The performances and results during the Czech Republic tour and friendly series with Pakistan doesn’t offer much optimism but there were encouraging signs during the camp in China as they defeated Chinese Super League sides Jaingsu Sainty and Shanghai East Asia 3-0 and 2-0 respectively. One big positive from those two games was the fact that there were scorers besides skipper Sunil Chhetri also. Sunil will once again have big responsibility along with the other two seniors – Francis Fernandes and Robin Singh – but youngsters like Lalrindika Ralte, Sandesh Jhingan, Narayan Das must also step up and play to their full potential while someone like Mandar Rao Desai has the ideal platform to make a name for himself. Anything other than a defeat will be a massive result for India but above all they must produce a fighting display and not just make up the numbers.

India’s likely XI: Amrinder Singh; Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Joyner Laurenco, Narayan Das; Francis Fernandes, Pronay Halder, Lalrindika Ralte, Mandar Rao Desai; Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh

Favourites

UAE are among the medal prospects in football; Photo Credit: uaefa.ae

The West Asian nation are favourites not only because they are placed much higher in the Asian football ladder but also because in recent years they have been doing well at this age-group level. They got their first-ever medal in men’s football at the Asian Games in the last edition in Guangzhou 2010 as they finished runners-up. UAE also qualified for the 2012 Olympics and reached the quarter-finals of the 2013 U-22 Asian Cup, a competition where they finished above India in the qualifiers despite a draw between the two nations in 2012.

Perhaps due to that shock result, UAE U-23 coach Ali Ebrahim has warned his players against complacency. Jordan is the other team in this group with the top two progressing to the round of 16 and UAE are determined to qualify as group winners in order to avoid a potential tie with mighty Iran. They have prepared for this tournament with a training camp in South Korea and also played a few friendlies there. Midfielder Sultan Bargash is one of their three overage players and has the experience of playing in the Olympics. Each of their members in the squad plies their trade in top clubs of the UAE Arabian Gulf League, where the standard is much higher than the I-League. UAE are among the medal prospects so they will be expected to ease past India.

Best performance at Asian Games

India: Gold Medal (1951, 1962)

UAE: Silver Medal (2010)

Performance at last edition

India: Round of 16

UAE: Silver Medal