India will face UAE in their second fixture in AFC Asian Cup that will take place on January 10, 2019. After their triumphing win against Thailand, India will be going in with new increased confidence and a lot to look forward to.
Though it will not be easy as the hosts UAE is looking for its first AFC Asian Cup trophy and they are one of the favourites to win it also having the home advantage.
UAE was held to a 1-1 draw by Bahrain in their opening game after Ahmed Khalil scored a penalty for UAE in the dying minutes of the game, while India won 4-1 against Thailand.
Head to Head
India has faced UAE on 13 occasions. Out of these 13:
UAE wins: 8
India wins: 2
Draws: 3
Last Meeting: Fifa world Cup 2014 Qualifiers ( India 2-2 UAE)
Possible Lineups:
India(4-4-2): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Subhashish Bose, Sandesh Jhinghan, Anas Edathodika, Pritam Kotal, Halicharan Narzary, Pronay Haldar, Anirudh Thapa, Udanta Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua.
Expected Changes: Stephen Constantine will make no compromises in the toughest game of the group. Only one change is expected of Jeje Lalpekhlua in place of Ashique Kuruniyan from the Thailand fixture.
UAE(4-4-1-1): Khalid Essa, Alhasan Saleh Easa Qutaif, Faris Juma, Khalifa Mubarak, Al Ahbabi, Ismail Al Hammadi, Amer Abdulrehman, Ali Salmeen, Khamis Esmaeel, Ahmed Khalil, Ismail Matar.
Expected Changes: The UAE squad could see two changes. Ahmed Khalil and Ismail Matar could come in the starting lineup as Alberto Zaccheroni’s man would be looking to find the net.
UAE will face India at Abu Dhabi. Though UAE was held to a draw with Bahrain and India was phenomenal against Thailand, it would be unwise to think that India would find it easy to get past this UAE team, given the extra motivation after the draw and of course, the home advantage. If India manages to win this one, they can easily get through to the knockout stages and can also finish as the Group leaders. But it is going to be a very tough job for the Blue Tigers as UAE is one of the favourites to win the competition, but after the first game, the Indian fans are beaming high with hopes and excitement as the Indian team showed in the first game that they mean business. India is placed at the top of Group A while UAE is at the third position along with Bahrain.
The game will begin at 9:30 PM (IST) at Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi on 10 January.
