Tit for tat

BANGALORE: Exposure for youth and leadership of seniors seems to the philosophy being India’s preparations for the upcoming Asian Games. On Wednesday, however, the team’s lack of experience was on show as it slumped to a 0-2 loss against a much-lower ranked Pakistan team in the second of the two international friendlies played at the Bangalore Football Stadium.

Other than the three seniors – Sunil Chhetri, Robin Singh and Francis Fernandes – in the squad, only three, namely Lalrindika Ralte, Narayan Das and Alwyn George, have played for the senior national side before. In fact, in Sunday’s first game, six Indian players had made their under-23 international debut.

On Wednesday, with Robin Singh sitting out through suspension, India’s lack of depth was made evident by the visitors. The Indian youngsters failed to rise to the occasion in this ill-tempered game that saw an abundance of heavy tackles. Skipper Sunil Chhetri, who got special treatment from the visitors, seldom got a change to make an impact.

With repeated mistakes and shortage of ideas to create chances, the inexperience among the Indians was in stark contrast to the Pakistan side that managed to find openings in the Indian defence. Incidentally, unlike India, Pakistan’s under-23 squad is also their senior team so they have comparatively much more exposure.

Pakistan’s 21-year-old skipper Kaleemullah scored the first goal of the match through a free-kick after being tackled from behind by India’s young Laldrinka Ralte in the 38th minute. The second goal too came after an error by another youngster, Sandesh Jhingan, who let Pakistan’s Saddam Hussain an open field for him to double the score in the dying moments of the match.

India’s coach Wim Koevermans accepted that the team did not play to their potential and the display of the youngsters was not up to the expected standard.