India looking for a miracle, Saudi Arabia full points

Kolkata, Aug 15 (UNI) India will try to get around the physical disadvantage and star pressure by playing positive soccer, while Saudi Arabia will try to overcome the unfavourable weather and take home full points in their AFC Cup qualifier clash here tomorrow.

The al-Sogours, meaning falcons as the Saudi Arabians are called, are in full flight with 13 world cuppers. However, a land where it rains hardly once in the year, the monsoon could be quite a deterrant. A soggy underfoot could be a big disadvantage for the side.

The last time they met in India in 1982, India lost 1-2 in the Asian Games. Since then they have met twice and India lost on both all the occasions. India have not taken a step forward while Saudi Arabia has won three Asia Cups in 1984, 88 and 96 and played in four world cups since 1998. But tomorrow could be another day, if India played hard and lady luck smiled.

India received a shot in the arm with the return of Sikkimese sniper Baichung Bhutia in their ranks as captain. Shanmugam Venkatesh will be his deputy.

''We are very happy that Baichung is back and Venkatesh is only too glad to be his deputy,'' national team coach Bob Houghton said.

The Indian team during its camp has given stress on certain things like giving shape to the team and working on the strategy and specific modes of attack. Houghton said the camp was over and the team would practice tomorrow as a warm up before the match day.

In all likeliness India will stick to the tried and tested 4-4-2 formation, with Surkumar Singh, N P Pradeep, N S Manju and Deepak Mandal manning the defence. The bulk of the midfield load will be in taken up by Mehrajuddin Wadoo, Rennedy Singh, Venkatesh and Steven Dias. The forward line-up will feature Baichung Bhutia with Manjit Singh, who looked sharp during the practice.

Alvito D'Cunha and Fredy Mascarenhas are sure to come in some time or the other.

Talking to the press, Houghton, reacting to the presence of 13 World Cuppers in the Saudi side, said, ''We are not overestimating them. We don't plan to take them any more than they are worth. They are a very strong side and we will like to give our best shot.'' Asked if there would be pressure on India, he said, ''India did not have a good start to the AFC Cup campaign. The only thing we can do from is improve. We need to get success in order to gain confidence and that will be very difficult against a tough team like Saudi Arabia. But we will try. Though advancing in AFC cup looks impossible we want to try.'' ''May be this was not the right team to begin our campaign. But we will play positive soccer. The effort will be to play mostly in the other half and we know that will not be easy. We will try not to concede goals, but at the same time we would like to score some. So the approach will certainly not be defensive,'' he said.

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