Margao: To the general drama of pain that is the story of their men’s national team, India have added another. One that ended hopes of a third successive Asian Cup qualification. There really is nothing to paper over the fact that India are not good enough to be among the 24 teams in Asia.
The teams collapsed to the ground at the final whistle but Singapore did with fist pumps. Tuesday’s 2-1 win through a brace by Song Uiyoung, the Korean-born midfielder scoring in the 43rd and 57th minutes, was a lesson in how to escape to victory despite being second best in every piece of statistic bar the most important one.
Celebration from the away changing room that could be heard in the media conference area was proof that India’s 13 shots to Singapore’s five and being 11-3 in corner-kicks meant nothing.
What made the evening worse was how it had begun. So bright was India’s start that its luminous intensity left Singapore dazzled. India played with happy feet which fetched a screamer of a goal, forced a goalline save and by the 30th minute, they had four shots on goal to none by Singapore.
Jamil had made three changes starting with Lalengmawia Ralte, Subhasish Bose and Mahesh Naorem. Lallianzuala Chhangte began on the left and Liston Colaco on the other side. Naorem won a corner in the first minute, a free-kick in the 12th and in between, Colaco’s ball for Sunil Chhetri was intercepted by Harriss Harun, the first of many remarkable interceptions the Singapore skipper made at the Nehru Stadium in Fatorda.
And then in the 14th minute, Chhangte struck from range. The shot arced into the top corner, away from goalkeeper Izwan Mahbud. Soon after, Ralte, having imposed himself in the midfield, went over. In the 18th minute, India played a sequence of seven passes that included a Chhangte stepover before Safuwan Baharuddin cleared. There were tricks and treats from Colaco and Ralte and Naorem as well.
In the 28th minute, Rahul Bheke found Chhangte who could have tried to test Mahbud but chose to try and find Chhetri. The effort was blocked by Baharuddin who then stopped Colaco’s shot from the rebound even as he rolled into the goal.
Then came the sucker-punch that ruins a coach’s half-time talk. Glenn Kweh found Song who scored as Ralte was a step slower in closing him. It was a risk India head coach Khalid Jamil had taken because he had promised to attack even though he “liked to defend more”. The change in attitude led to the second goal as India failed to track back after a player slipped and lost the ball in the midfield. “We lost concentration,” said Jamil.
Singapore battened down the hatches well. For all their domination, barring an Udanta Singh header, to another ball from Chhangte, India didn’t really look like scoring after the interval.
“This shouldn’t have happened. We lost after playing some good football,” said Jamil, looking visibly dejected.
It will be time to recalibrate once he recovers. To build a new team possibly without Chhetri. “We will see. This is not the right time,” he said.
