India to take on Lebanon in Nehru Cup opener

New Delhi, Aug 13 (PTI) India will begin their Nehru Cup
title defence against Lebanon in the inaugural match at the
Ambedkar Stadium here on August 19.

The draw is expected to be announced Friday but India
chief coach Bob Houghton said the hosts will play against
148th ranked Lebanon in the opening match of the five-nation
tournament.

India, ranked 156th in the latest FIFA chart, play their
second match on August 22 against 160th ranked Kyrgyzstan, and
meet neighbours Sri Lanka on August 25.

They face last year's runners-up and highest ranked Syria
(95th) on August 28 in the last round-robin match.

The top two teams will qualify for the August 31 final.

Houghton said Lebanon were a good side and his boys would
want to win the match against the West Asians.

"It would be a good match (against Lebanon). In the last
two meetings during World Cup qualifiers, they had beaten us
4-1 first and then drew 2-2," he said.

The 61-year-old Englishman said the round-robin matches
were better than the earlier planned two-group format which
was done away with after Palestine were dropped.

"It (round-robin) is better because we are going to play
more matches, four in the round-robin and fifth one if
hopefully we are in the final. In the earlier one (six-team
scenario) we would have played two league games and two
knock-out matches," Houghton said.

"I am not a fan of playing too many matches in a short
time but now we need to play more matches since we have played
few international matches (the last one in January)," he
added.

The winners of the tournament will get USD 40,0000 from
the title sponsors Oil and Natural Gas Commission while the
runners-up will get USD 20,0000. The man of the match in every
game will get USD 300 and the winning team of each of the
matches will get USD 500. PTI PDS
DDC
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