India peaked at the right time to defeat neighbours Sri Lanka 3-1 to brighten their chances of defending the title.

Houghton is well aware of the challenges that lay ahead him and knows how important the title would be for the national team in preparing for the 2011 Asian Cup finals. Failure to defend the title may also come as a big loss of face for the Englishman, who had declared that the 156th ranked India can beat top Asian teams like South Korea and Japan.

Though Syria might not be of the same class, but are surely in no mood to return home empty handed for the second consecutive time. Their performance Saturday cannot be a pointer to their showing in the final.

Ibrahim will also make sure that his key players Abdul Fattah Alaga, joint top scorer in the tournament with three goals, Wael Ayan and Mohamad Baker Younes are available for the final. The trio were booked against Lebanon and another card means that they would miss the final. No coach would like to take the risk of playing them in a meaningless game.

Teams: India (from): Subrata Paul, Subhashish Roy Chowdhury; Mahesh Gawli, Gourmangi Singh, Anwar, Surkumar Singh, Dipak Mondal, Sameer Naik; Climax Lawrence, Steven Dias, Renedy Singh, Anthony Pereira, Mehrajuddin Waddoo, Syed Rahim Nabi, N.P. Pradeep; Bhaichung Bhutia, Sunil Chettri, Sushil Singh, Abhishek Yadav

Syria (from): Mosab Blhousa, Moustafa Shakosh, Kawa Hisso; Abdulkader Dakka, Belal Abduldaim, Ali Dyab, Hamzeh Al Aitoni, Wael Ayan, Feras Esmaeel; Aatef Jenyat, Abdelrazaq Al Hussain, Alaa Alshbli, Moutaz Kaldini, Jwan Hisso, Ahmad Haj Mohamad, Bakri Tarrab, Firas Al Khatib, Mohamed Al Zeno, Abdul Fatah Alaga, Raja Rafe.