The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
A kick in the face
Indian football hits a low with a 1-2 loss to lower-ranked Afghanistan in Round 2 of World Cup qualifiers
WHEN HE scored in the 37th minute, Sunil Chhetri’s face bore no emotion as he trudged back to his half. When India misplaced the most pedestrian of passes minutes later, his face contorted itself into that familiar mix of abject fury – one that only his Indian teammates seem to elicit. When he was substituted in the 67th minute after scoring a penalty in his 150th game for the Indian national football team, his face on the bench turned to one of concern and urgency. And when thirty minutes later, the referee blew the final whistle, the country’s most recognisable footballer buried his face in between his hands, unable to face the reality of what Indian football truly is.
It was the 2013 SAFF Cup Final where Afghanistan had last beaten India in an international football match. On Tuesday, in Guwahati and in a World Cup qualifier second round match at that, Afghanistan defeated themonceagain,thistimetothesweettuneof two late goals.
Four of Afghanistan’s players do not currently have a club to play (according to their coach Ashley Westwood) and weren’t in the middle of a football season like every Indian playeronthepitchwas.theafghansstruggled to put a team together for these qualifiers due to disputes between the players and management. India were only able to pick one point from a possible six from these two games against opponents who they should have easily picked apart over two legs.
How different does a year in Indian football look like? Last year India were coasting. Headcoachigorstimachadhiscamps,hadthe players he wanted, and had a glut of teams to base his preparations against. It resulted in wins against Lebanon, Kuwait and the Kyrgyz Republicandthreeinternationaltournaments won within the country.
Cut to a year later and Indian football is back to its familiar state of wretchedness. It’s just March and the national team has played six times already – conceding an unfathomable eleven goals in the process and scoring a grand total of zero goals from open play. Stimac’s response after this latest failure: “I'm still confident of achieving our targets (WCQ R3) in June, not pleased with what we saw tonight. Substitutions are made to have some impacts and today there was none. I'm sorry for what happened but I expect much better in June."
Defiant even now, in the face of mediocrity.
Even on Tuesday, a goal from open play was a laughable dream. And that is saying something, considering Chhetri had a chance minutes into the start of the game. A weighted ball into the box, and the Indian skipper had nothing but the keeper to beat. In fact, there were three Indian players in the box when the ball arrived and one Afghan apart from the goalkeeper. Chhetri mishit the ball, which hit the post, and then Manvir Singh, originally a striker and now more of a nomad on the football pitch depending upon which coach he plays for, skied the ball into the stands when he too only had the keeper to beat. A shockingly early sign of how things were to unfold.
After that moment, India ceased to create any chances. Ten minutes of thunder were followed by the usual standard. A lack of control inthemidfield,playerslikeleft-backsubhasish Bose punting the ball up the field and showing minimal effort in closing players down when that very ball returned seconds later with a horde of Afghans.
Infact,theleftsideofindiawasitsownseparatemess.bose’sblunderswerecompounded by the play of Liston Colaco on the wing. Often he would choose to take on Afghan players by himself when he simply did not carry the credentials to do so. Instead of passing into the spacethatwasbeingcreatedbytherunsmade by his teammates, Colaco would choose to dribbleandinevitablygetpushedofftheballby the meatier Afghans and continued to repeat that same failed trick.
If India’s play on the wing was disastrous, the real stinker was their attack. Often derided by Stimac for being poor even before he turned up to Indian shores, the front three of Colaco, Chhetri and Manvir were their own disjointed story in themselves. Usually Chhetri is accompanied by Mahesh Naorem and Lallianzuala Chhangte.
But Stimac, despite promising his best attacking three, provided three players who rarely have shown to operate in the way an attacking trio needs to. It was yet again a case of questionable decisions made all around, from the players on the pitch, to the man putting them there.
Infact, India’s penalty, a first in eleven games, came from an avoidable handball by Afghandefenderharoonamiriandotherthan that strike from Chhetri, the home team offered nothing.
Afghanistan was not any better. But in the final twenty minutes of the game, their levels went upwards while India’s energy zapped. Afghanistan’s first goal in the 70th minute was a result of India not putting enough bodies in front of their goal.
Eventually they blocked two shots but the third from the edge of the box by Rahmat Akbari deflected between the legs of Rahul Bheke and trickled into goal.
Once again affected by that familiar inertia when needing to act, India’s search for a goal saw wild passes that never met their target, impossibly daft decisions that came from panic and not poise, and an inability to respond to a challenge – one that they had just encountered the match before. Therefore it was no surprise when Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, India’s trusted senior goalkeeper, committed a foul in the box in the 88th minute.
The Afghans accepted the gift with a smile on their face, as Sharif Mukhammad put the game to bed.
India next face Kuwait at home on June 6 and then Qatar in Doha on June 11 for their finaltwoworldcupqualifierroundtwogames.