India vs Syria Player Ratings, AFC Asian Cup 2023: Report Card Of India Players After Tournament Exit

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India vs Syria Player Ratings, AFC Asian Cup 2023: India made a group stage exit at the AFC Asian Cup on Tuesday after Igor Stimac and men went down to Syria in the do-or-die Group B match in Al Khor on Tuesday (January 23). MyKhel rates players as per their performance on the evening.

While the Indian defense stood tall for the majority of the game with Igor Stimac tweaking the defensive line-up for a more resolute setup, the Indian attack and midfield were not up to the mark in posing a threat in the final third. We have rated the performances on a scale of 1 to 10.

Defense: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu - GK (8/10); Subhasish Bose (7/10), Rahul Bheke (6/10), Sandesh Jhingan (8/10)
Midfield: Deepak Tangri (6.5/10), Apuia (4/10), Akash Mishra (4/10)
Forwards: Manvir Singh (3/10), Lallinzuala Chhangte (5/10), Sunil Chhetri (5.5/10), Naoarem Mahesh Singh (4.5/10),
Substitutes: Suresh Singh Wangjam (4/10), Sahal Abdul Samad (3/10), Nikhil Poojary (3/10), Udanta Singh (5/10), Anirudh Tapa (NA)

Defense: Good things first, Indian defense recovered from the harrowing experiences of the last match against Uzbekistan with a three-at-the-back formation. The trio of Bose, Bheke and Jhingan did an excellent job in the first half while Bheke marshalled the defense well once Jhingan left with an injury.

However, the versatile defender could have done better in stopping Omar Khribin from pulling away from him and fire that winning goal. As far as Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is conerned, there's not much he could have done to stop the goal from that range and was a wall tonight in dealing with shots at him.

Midfield: Deepak Tangri did the job of guarding the defense well and was seen often drop deep to put that extra number in defense. However, his lack of creative ability after breaking play was felt. The onus was on Apuia to make up for that in the heart of the field but the Mumbai City player wasn't always accurate with his distribution and was lost in defensive duties more.

Forward: This has been a nightmare of an AFC Asian Cup for Indian forwards with not a single goal scored, especially when telling chances were created in all three games. Sunil Chhetri put up a tireless shift as he created some counter-attacking chances but didn't do his first priority of scoring goals.

Lallinzuala Chhangte, Naorem Mahesh Singh looked lively early on but once the game settled, they struggled to break free on the counter with Syrians keeping a tight noose on them. Manvir Singh, in particular, had an offcolour AFC Asian Cup 2023.

Substitute: Among all the substitutes, only Udanta Singh looked lively with some runs in the final third while playing the role of a helping hand in defense. However, rest of them could do little despite getting 20-odd minutes. Sahal Abdul Samad started the game but was clear that he is not back at his best yet.