India ready to weather storm as Australia 'reach for the stars' at Asian Cup

DOHA : Australia and India have two of the longest-serving coaches at the Asian Cup and Saturday's Group B opener between the teams promises to be a battle of styles between the pragmatic Aussies and an Indian side attempting to shed a defensive mindset.

Australia come into the Asian Cup as one of the pre-tournament favourites having won the competition in 2015 and coach Graham Arnold said on Friday that their goal is to lift the trophy once again in Qatar, where they have fond memories.

They reached the knockout stages of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where they gave eventual champions Argentina a run for their money in the last-16.

Arnold, who has been at the helm since 2018, said he had reinforced the message that the trophy was the ultimate goal.

"We've come here for a reason - to win this Asian Cup. It's the only tournament that we probably can win," Arnold told reporters.

"It is difficult, but we're coming here to Qatar where we have a lot of familiarity, all the boys love coming here.

"You've got to reach for the stars and have high expectations, we'll do that right from the start."

Although Arnold has admitted that established goalscorers have been in short supply for Australia since the retirement of Tim Cahill, he believes that a superior defence will help them.

"If you have clean sheets and you have the energy to counter-press... you're only one goal away from winning things," he added.

"So it's important that we continue to keep clean sheets, it's crucial."

TALLEST PLAYERS

The match could see two of the tallest players in the tournament - Australia's Harry Souttar (2 metres) and Indian keeper Gurpreet Singh (1.97 metres) - go head-to-head.

Indian coach Igor Stimac identified Australia's strength at set pieces and crosses