(Football news) Following a 2-0 loss to Australia in their debut match, the Blue Tigers are currently bottom of Group B. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan had to settle for a 0-0 draw with Syria. This strategy of waiting it out worked for fifty minutes on Saturday, but ultimately India could only hold out against the Socceroos for so long. 

This was this team’s third straight Asian Cup without a goal, and they had lost their last two games overall by a total score of 5-0 in all competitions.

In the event that the Socceroos lose on Thursday and Syria wins or draws, they would be formally eliminated from this competition for the second time in a row.

Manager Igor Stimac has stated that getting to the World Cup is the team’s main goal, therefore an early exit might not bother him too much. His team is currently in second place in its 2026 qualifying group, only behind Kuwait on goal differential.

They had only scored in one of their previous four group games in this competition, and that was their lone win, coming from a 4-1 victory over Thailand in their opening game of 2019.

ave only ever lost their first four efforts at this competition, failing to score in all but one of those games (a 5-2 loss to Bahrain in 2011). They have never won their second group match.  

With the White Wolves losing their opening game in this competition for the first time since 2007 (a 2-1 loss against Iran), Uzbekistan wasted a great opportunity on matchday one.

This side had scored in 15 straight group matches prior to Saturday, therefore it was only the second time in the twenty-first century that they have failed to find the net in an Asian Cup appearance.

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