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Fahad Youssef and Sunil Chhetri are both looking to score Syria and India’s first goal respectively at the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023, which could potentially take their team to the knockout stage.
Neither side managed to find the back of the net in their opening two matches but something is likely to give when the two meet at Al Bayt Stadium on Tuesday.
Syria registered a total of 22 shots from their two matches against Uzbekistan and Australia without success, something which 36-year-old midfielder Youssef wants to amend against India.
“Everybody will be taking this match with full responsibility and high focus,” said the Al Shorta SC player. “We have prepared for this match very well, mentally and physically.
“The players recognise the importance of this match. It’s more responsibility than pressure because the players have experience. It’s about whether we can translate our tactics to our game on the pitch.
“Tomorrow’s game we have to score goals. The focus is to win but if we can, then we want to score more goals. We want to decide the outcome for ourselves rather than to rely on others.
“The Indian national team is one of the developing teams, so we will treat them with a lot of respect. Hopefully through concerted efforts, we can win this match and make our people happy.”
India’s record in their last two AFC Asian Cup appearances saw them getting three goals in Qatar 2011 and four in
“I think there are a few differences with regards to 2011, 2019 and now,” said Chhetri. “One of the major differences is that we are more aware, we have more knowledge and what kind of things we can expect.
“As a team, we are more prepared. We feel more comfortable to be in the Asian Cup now than before.
“The problem is that India and I haven’t scored. We don’t go into the game thinking we don’t want to score. We had more chances against Uzbekistan and against Australia.
“I can assure you that we haven’t scored not because of lack of want but we missed chances. Same chances they got (opponents), it went in, that’s the margin in this tournament. Come tomorrow, we hope to change that.”
