Writer : Manav Chowdhury
India clash with HongKong in the all important final game
The Blue Tigers defeated the lions of Khorasan 2-1 in a thrilling encounter on Saturday
The Indian football team will face Hong Kong in their third and final match of group D.Hong Kong defeated Cambodia by 3-0 and are sitting at the top of the table in group D.
After India’s captain Sunil Chettri scored a brilliant free-kick to lead his side but in corner team India conceded very easily. Coach Stimac made changes and brought in Sahal who proved to be the super sub for the Blue Tigers and scored a brilliant goal in the 91st minute to finish the match in style .
The boys in blue will try to win their third clash against Hong Kong to finish at top of the table to qualify for Asian Cup. However even if the match ended in a draw then also Indian team will finish second in group and will have a chance to qualify for the Cup as five best second placed teams will get the chance to go through.
Criteria to determine the table topper if two teams are tied in points
As reported by Goal, if two teams are tied in points after three games, there are nine criteria that can be applied to choose the winner.
- Points earned by tied teams in head-to-head matches
- Goal difference of tied teams in head-to-head matches
- Goals scored by tied teams in head-to-head matches
- In case, more than two teams are tied, and the teams are tied even after applying criteria 1 to 3, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to this subset of teams
- Goal difference in all group matches
- Goals scored in all group matches
- If only two teams are tied, a penalty shootout will determine the group winner if they met in the last group match
- Disciplinary points (yellow card = 1 point, red card as a result of two yellow cards = 3 points, direct red card = 3 points, yellow card followed by direct red card = 4 points)
- Drawing of lots
The AFC Asian Cup 2023 (June 16 – July 16) will be a 24-team affair. 13 teams have already qualified – Japan, Syria, Qatar, South Korea, Australia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, China (the initial host), Iraq, Oman, Vietnam and Lebanon.
in the third-round qualifiers, 24 teams, divided into six groups, are competing. Six group winners and five best runners-up out of six qualify.
Head to Head :
India have a superior head to head record against “The Strength” facing 15 times each other and the Blue Tigers won 7 times and Hong Kong won 4 times.
Last two matches when both teams faced each other in International Friendly and both times Hong Kong came out as winners as they defeated the Blue tigers 2-1 in 2009 and 1-0 in 2010.
India were unbeaten against Hong Kong in their first eight meetings, winning six of those.
After a long time both teams will face each other in a mouthwatering clash.
Players to watch out :
Ashique Kuruniyan (India)
Ashique in last match against the lions of khorasan was brilliant and was regularly with his pace and dribbling was creating problems for them. He also provided crucial assist to Sahal .He will definitely be a threat to the Hong Kong and they surely make plans to minimize his efforts on the pitch.
Matt Orr(Hong Kong)
He is currently in red hot form and very lethal in front of goal in last two matches against Afghanistan and Cambodia he scored and helped team to get 3 points and he is very good at taking shots from long distance and Indian defence need to be careful of his clever runs and they have to mark him tightly.
Predicted Line-ups –
India: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK),Sandesh Jinghan,Anwar Ali,Aakash Mishra,Roshan Singh,Suresh Singh,Anirudh Thapa,Brandon Fernandes,Liston Colaco,Sunil Chettri,Manvir Singh
Hong Kong:Yapp Hung Dai(GK),HuangYang,Tsui Wang kit,Wing Wai,Ju Yingzi,Matt Orr,Law Chun,Jahangir Khan,Chan Siu Kwan,Tomas Maronesi,Ngan Lok Fung
Telecast:
Match will kickoff on 14th June 8:30pm(IST) at salt lake stadium.
It will be live on Star sports network and live streaming at Hotstar.
