Asian Cup: India go down, but not without a fight
As expected, the Indian team lost its opening match to Australia 0-2 in the 2024 AFC Asian Cup, being held in Qatar. This tie was played at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Doha. All the matches would be played at the same venues that hosted the 2022 World Cup.
India was outclassed by the team ranked about 75 places above it in the FIFA world ranking but it put up a good fight. The defensive work was excellent.
The match was mostly played in the Indian half and the Blue Tigers’ sole chance to score came in the first half, but the Sunil Chhetri headed wide.
The Socceroos dominated with 28 shots, six of which were on goal, 71 per cent possession and 14 corners; the corresponding numbers for the Blue Tigers were four, one, 29 per cent and none.
In the first half, India held on despite a massive Australian pressure. In the second half, though, the team conceded two goals.
The first was scored by Jackson Irvine. It was an error by goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu that led to it. But other than that, Sandhu had a superb game, and had it not been for him, the team would have conceded at least half-a-dozen more. The second goal came from substitute Jordan Bos, who scored with his first touch of the game.
The Igor Stimac-managed side will face Uzbekistan on Thursday, January 18 and Syria on Tuesday, January 23.
