Football, Intercontinental Cup: Syria beat India to win tournament
Syria won both their matches to secure the 2024 Intercontinental Cup title.
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Syria on Monday were crowned the Intercontinental Cup 2024 champions after beating India 3-0 at the GMC Balayogi Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad.
India spent the entire game on the chase after Mahmoud Al-Aswad scored the opener in the seventh minute. The hosts improved significantly in the second half, but a strong performance from Syrian goalkeeper Elias Hadaya prevented any sort of an Indian comeback.
Daleho Irandust and Pablo Sabbag punished India on the counter and scored two more to seal a solid win for the West Asians.
India head coach Manolo Márquez made seven changes, from the line-up which was held 0-0 by Mauritius. On the other hand, José Lana rotated all 11 players from Syria's 2-0 victory over Mauritius three days ago.
Syria were all over India right from the opening whistle as the hosts looked answerless. The visitors took the lead in the seventh minute with their first inroad into the Indian box.
Irandust tiptoed his way into the box before feeding Al-Aswad, whose initial shot was blocked by Anwar Ali, but the rebound deflected off Jeakson Singh Thounaojam and fortunately fell for Al-Aswad again. The 20-year-old made no mistake and instinctively punted the ball into the roof of the net.
There would be no respite from the...
