India vs. Oman Clash for Third Place in CAFA Nations Cup: Live Updates and Analysis

India vs Oman

Kickoff time: 5.30 PM

Khalid Jamil will look to end his first major campaign as India head coach with a third-place finish at the CAFA Nations Cup, but it will be a tall ask. Standing in his way are Oman, a nation India have not defeated in ten previous attempts (Oman W7 D3).

India will be without one of their key men -- Sandesh Jhingan has returned to India to get treatment for a fractured jaw -- but Jamil remains optimistic. He said all his players are "positive after these results." and continued on that theme in the pre-match press conference. "We must continue this positivity into the next game. I have a good feeling that we could get a positive result." He also credited his players' "belief and hard work" for the fact that India, the second lowest ranked team in the tournament, had made the third-place playoff on their debut appearance in CAFA.

"The commitment that the players showed was amazing," he said. "The way [both junior and senior players] adapted to the conditions was commendable. I never felt like we were here to just participate - we came with a purpose, and the feeling was always positive."

India have played three games in the tournament, winning one (vs Tajikistan), drawing one (vs Afghanistan) and losing one (vs finalist, and favourites, Iran). Opponents Oman, meanwhile, haven't lost a game, beating both Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan while drawing the other finalists Uzbekistan. Coached by Carlos Queiroz (formerly Portugal and Iran NT manager and famously asst. coach to Alex Ferguson at Manchester United across two spells), Oman are a tough unit and will start the match as firm favourites.

You can follow all the action live right here