0-3!0-1! The first populous country lost again, losing 0 goals in 3 games, and the performance was worse than the national football team!
The group stage of the 2024 Asian Cup has reached the final stage, and the performance of the Chinese team in this tournament has undoubtedly disappointed everyone again. In Group A, where Qatar, Lebanon and Tajikistan are located, the Chinese team struggled to find a win, and finally came out of the tournament with a humiliating record of only 2 draws and 1 loss, and had to go home early after the group stage. And there is a team whose performance is even worse than the Chinese men's football team, but their total national population ranks first in the world, which shows that football does not seem to have much to do with the population!
As you may have guessed, this team is the Indian team from South Asia. According to the latest statistics of the United Nations, India's total population has successfully surpassed China's and become the world's most populous country. But in the field of sports, India has not played to their demographic advantage, and they are not very competitive in other sports except for India's national sport, cricket. However, in recent years, India seems to have begun to make efforts in the field of football, and in the middle of last year, the Indian team defeated Lebanon and Kuwait to win the South Asian Championship, so many fans have begun to look forward to their performance in the Asian Cup.
In the first round of the group stage, facing the top seed Australia, India held on to the half, still not escaping the fate of conceding a goal. They eventually lost 2-0 to Australia, making a bad start. Immediately after the match against Uzbekistan, India suffered a half-time collapse as they conceded three goals in the first half and lost 3-0 to their opponents, and qualification was in jeopardy. Facing Syria in the final round, India can only retain their hopes of qualifying if they win, and a draw or loss will be eliminated.
The Indian team, which was fighting against the odds, did not choose to defend as before, but boldly attacked and tried to fight against the Syrian team. However, the gap in strength did not allow them to create any good scoring opportunities, but the Syrian team's counterattack, frequently creating threats, if it were not for the excellent performance of Indian goalkeeper Singh, the Indian team's goal may have been lost. At half-time, both teams were scoreless and both sides returned to the dressing room with a 0-0 scoreline.
Yibian fought again, and the Syrian team, which was also on the edge of the cliff, made substitutions and adjustments one after another, gradually strengthening the offensive, and the Indian team, which was declining in physical fitness, was no longer able to compete with the opponent. In the 76th minute, the Syrian team played a lethal counterattack, Essar broke into the box and passed back to his teammates, and substitute striker Khribin made a slight adjustment to volley into the near corner, helping the Syrian team to break the deadlock and take a 1-0 lead. Not to be outdone, the Indian team tried to launch a counterattack, but their offensive strength was really limited, and finally the Syrian team defeated the Indian team 1-0 and advanced to the knockout stage of the Asian Cup for the first time in team history!
The losing Indian team became the worst team in this Asian Cup, they lost 0 goals in three games but conceded 6 goals in a row, and their performance at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends was not up to par. In the Indian team, the national football team may be able to find some comfort!