Doha, January 09:If past statistics are anything to go by, India should beat Australia in their Group C opener at the Asia Cup Monday.
Since independence, India has won both previous encounters between the two countries, scoring an astonishing 11 goals in the process.
However, if current form and rankings are to determine the outcome of the game in the Al-Sadd stadium, it will be Australia who come out tops.
All of that is of little importance to Australian coach Holger Osieck.
“I am not interested in statistics and rankings and we are certainly not arrogant. What counts is what happens on the field. If you get lost on the aspect of rankings, you will lose on the field,” he said Sunday.
“And as far as the statistics go, I think those matches were many years ago and I doubt any of the players involved will be playing Monday.”
The German, who was assistant to Franz Beckenbauer when Germany won the World Cup in 1990, said that the whole team was looking forward to the start of the competition.
“The worst thing is having to wait for the start of the tournament, that is why it is always good to get into the first game,” he said.
Osieck, who also coached Canada, is aware that many of his players had arrived in Qatar coming out of a tough season.
“But I am pleased that we managed to get everybody here in time,” he said.
“We had very good discussions with their European clubs and we did not insist on sticking to all the regulations and in the end it was a situation in which everybody won.
“Even though we only had the whole squad together for a few days, it was important that everybody showed up in good form and without injury.
“We tried to get everything in place to play good football.”
Osieck is confident ahead of the Group C games, where Australia will also face Bahrain and India.
“If we can transfer everything we did in preparations into the matches, we should play a pretty decent tournament,” he said.
——————-IANS