We didn't know we were in Nehru Cup final: Houghton

New Delhi: India coach Bob Houghton gave his thoughts on their last round robin game against Syria and admitted that they were taken by surprise by the news of their qualification to the finals.

There was much confusion over whether India had qualified or not into the finals. The official broadcasters, Zee Sports claimed on air that the host nation did qualify based on the better head-to-head record against Sri Lanka while the Indian FA mentioned the goal difference theory.

However, it was only on Friday afternoon that the AIFF issued release stating that India had indeed qualified.

"We didn’t know until our physio informed us that head to head would be the first criteria to decide," said Houghton.

Today’s game between India and Syria will be a dress rehearsal of Monday’s final but Houghton promised that his team will take this game very seriously as many of the unused players of the squad will start.

He said, "Many of the fringe players will get the chance to play so we won’t be complacent and will be looking to win the game.

"Most of the first team players will be rested because they have been playing a lot since the practice games of Barcelona.

"Abhishek, Sushil, Nabi, Renedy and Mehraj will all get starts."

This implies that Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri and the two wingers Steven Dias and Anthony Pereira will be rested while either Climax or Pradeep will miss out as well.

The former China coach further added, "Deepak will start in place of Surkumar and both Climax and Pradeep will get a half each separately.

"We won’t change our keeper because Subrata didn’t play many games in the last domestic season."

Houghton backed the public opinion that Syria have lived up to their reputation and credited their defence for their fantastic work.

"Syria are a much better side than the team they had in 2007. They defend very well and still haven’t conceded a single goal so it will be very difficult for us.

"Three of their defenders – numbers 2 (Belal Abdul Daim), 3 (Ali Dyab) and 23 (Feras Ismail) have been very impressive in this tournament," he concluded.