India to face Tajikistan in Intercontinental Cup opener

New Delhi, June 10 (IANS): Defending champions India will take on Tajikistan in the opening match of the Hero Intercontinental Cup 2019, scheduled to take place at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad from July 7-18. The schedule for the four-nation tournament was announced here on Monday.

India’s next match will be on July 13 against North Korea, followed by Syria on July 16, with the top two teams from the round robin stage qualifying for the final that is scheduled on July 18. According to the latest FIFA rankings released in April 2019, Syria are ranked 83rd followed by Tajikistan and North Korea, who are placed 120 and 121 respectively. India currently occupies the 101st position in the rankings.

The Indian side, under new head coach Igor Stimac, will be heading into the tournament on the back of a promising show in the King’s Cup 2019 in Thailand, where they went down 3-1 to Curacao and followed the result with a 1-0 win against the hosts courtesy of a goal from Anirudh Thapa.

The fixtures are as follows:

July 7: India vs Tajikistan

July 8: Syria vs DPR Korea

July 10: Tajikistan vs Syria

July 13: India vs DPR Korea

July 15: DPR Korea vs Tajikistan

July 16: India vs Syria

July 18: Final