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Journalism of Courage
Down by a man and a goal with the match entering injury time, Lady Luck smiled on India – regardless of whether it was deserved or not.
Rahim Ali, coming on in place of Sunil Chhetri, was handed the kindest of first international goals when Singapore’s Jordan Emaviwe bungled a routine pass back to his goalkeeper, ensuring that the AFC Asian Cup qualifier in the city-state finished 1-1, keeping India’s faint hopes of making the tournament in Saudi Arabia in 2027 alive.
Izwan Mahbud had a 50-50 chance to get the ball out of danger but it rebounded off the incoming Indian forward and fell kindly into his path in front of the empty goal. It came totally against the run of play as Singapore, ranked below India on the FIFA charts, had completely dominated an Indian team missing some of its first-choice players.
A 20-day camp, followed by four games at the CAFA Cup, and then another 15-day camp – this was about as prepared as an Indian squad could have been. Glimpses of what coach Khalid Jamil had envisaged for the team were shown at the CAFA Cup, where India were aggressive in their set-piece routines and were choosing pockets of games to press the backline in search of a goal.
Against Singapore on Thursday, Jamil’s India played to the same tune – but the frenetic pressing in the opening minutes didn’t yield anything of note and the one free-kick India won in that period harmlessly evaded Singapore’s goal.
It was the rest of the game that should give reason for worry. India slipped into their familiar state of deference, staying in their own half and attempting to shut shop from the 20th (!) minute of an away game that they desperately needed to win. And when Indian defenders did win the ball, it was an even tougher watch. Passes wouldn’t be strung together and rather than try to build on some possession, the ball was given away much too cheaply. The only positive note in these exchanges was India’s defensive line holding itself together.
But even that came undone right before half time. Singapore had looked dangerous in their attempts to slip the ball between Sandesh Jhinghan and left-back Muhammed Uwais. Uwais, in particular, was susceptible but had thwarted a through ball a few minutes earlier.
But when Singapore captain Hariss Harun lofted a ball into the Indian box, Uwais chose to run towards the path of the attacker, rather than track the ball. It needed a call from the nearest Indian defender Jhingan. Winger Shawal Anuar took control of the ball in the box and would have scored himself, but was beaten to the punch by his own team’s striker Ikhsan Fandi, who promptly turned back to apologise.
India needed a response in the second half, but their task didn’t get any easier when they went down to 10 men.
Jhingan had earned a yellow card in the 21st minute of the game when he needlessly put in a high-footed challenge to gain possession of an aerial ball. Two minutes into the second half, he earned his marching orders after getting beaten in a one-on-one situation and then holding onto the player.
If there was any doubt that India could get any poorer, they erased those fairly quickly. Jamil’s men may have needed the goal, but it was Singapore who created all the chances. The middle period of the second half saw India completely give up on the game and Jamil was forced into making some substitutions.
Offensive options like Sahal Abdul Samad, Udanta Singh and Rahim Ali were called into action. Chhetri, who had cut a lonesome figure, was taken off without a hint of a shot in his 79 laboured minutes on the pitch.
Wins against Tajikistan and Oman had brought some feel-good factor in Indian football, but in Singapore India showed just how difficult it was for them to create opportunities. They persisted with crosses from the deep to short players, and half-hearted long-range attempts, moving away from the template set by former coach Igor Stimac – practising attacking patterns in the final third of the pitch.
There is no surprise that finding goals is the biggest challenge for this team. Even though Rahim’s fortuitous strike would count as a goal from open play, the clear takeaway is that this team finds it difficult to score goals unless their opponents gift them one.
India face Singapore gain – this time at the Fatorda Stadium in Goa – in less than five days and as things stand, qualification looks unlikely.
Chhetri kept it short after the match. “It’s going to be difficult, we’re just playing one game at a time. Going (down to) 10 men and getting a result wasn’t easy. Just glad to be taking a point away.”
