The early results in the Asian Cup have shown that you can throw out the records when it comes to one of football's most prestigious prizes.
Syria has stunned Saudi Arabia 2-1 and Japan were fortunate to draw Jordan 1-1. In addition, less fancied sides China and Uzbekistan have posted surprising victories. What do those sides have in common? They were once coached by India coach Bob Houghton.
Houghton is definitely excited ahead of Monday's much-hyped matchup with fellow cricket powerhouse Australia.
"Before I took charge of India, my last two national team appointments were in China and Uzbekistan and I was certainly pleased to see both of them win their first games of the tournament," Houghton said.
Houghton is without striker Sushil Kumar Singh, suspended two matches for elbowing a North Korean player (who no doubt deserved it).
Australia is well below No. 1 India in the test cricket rankings after their humbling defeat to England in the Ashes, although football is a much different sport. Still, Socceroos coach Holger Osieck is not worried about his team's exalted status compared to India, which reportedly has 100 registered professional footballers.
"My point is that I never pay attention to statistics and rankings," he said. "We have a saying in German what counts is on the field. We are far from being arrogant."
What Osieck is trying to say is 'Was zählt, ist auf dem Feld.'
Truer words have likely never been spoken ahead of what could be the most-watched Asian Cup match in history.
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