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Journalism of Courage
Attack may have been the buzzword for Khalid Jamil in his pre-match comments but his reputation as coach has been built on defensive solidity. Penny for his thoughts, then, when in the 58th minute of India’s must-win AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Singapore in Margao, he saw his defenders seemingly lose all sense of their surroundings and concede a second goal on the night. It turned out to be the goal that hammered the final nail in the coffin in which lay India’s dreams of qualifying for the continental tournament for a third consecutive time.
The chaos was sparked by a simple ball over the top, which itself came because midfielder Nikhil Prabhu, despite not having an opposition player anywhere in his vicinity, headed the ball right to the feet of a Singapore man. India had conceded to Singapore from a ball over the top in the latter’s home match last week as well. At the time, it was Muhammad Uvais who was at fault for losing his man inside the box.
On Tuesday, the initial ball was chased down by the pacy Ikhsan Fandi, who breezed past Anwar Ali like he didn’t exist. A drop of a shoulder and Rahul Bheke, Anwar’s partner in central defense in the absence of the suspended Sandesh Jhingan, was beaten, after which Fandi passed it to his right where Shawal Anuar had arrived at the edge of the box.
As many as four Indian defenders stopped in their tracks and tried to cover Anuar and he simply put the ball through the wide gap between two of them to the unmarked Song Ui-Young, who slotted it past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
It didn’t matter that India had run Singapore ragged for a majority of the first half, forcing them to just make hopeful clearances. Or that they took the lead in the 14th minute thanks to a screamer of a goal from Lallianzuala Chhangte.
What mattered instead is that despite all their dominance, India couldn’t create more than five clear-cut chances and only managed three shots on goal. What also mattered was that it was right at the end of that first half that Singapore wiped off India’s lead.
This one started with a cross that came from the right which Subhashish Bose did well to get his head to. However, there were no Indians to kick the ball out of their own box, and it fell to Song who made no mistake with his shot.
It was more of the same from India after Singapore scored their second. They created chances but couldn’t capitalise, Brandon Fernandes came on in the 90th minute and was served an equaliser pretty much on a platter after some good work on the right by his teammates. He swung his leg like a sledgehammer, the ball feebly bounced off the outside of his foot and was cleared.
“Lack of concentration,” Jamil told the broadcasters after the final whistle, putting the onus squarely on his players. “We played well but we have to concentrate. First half, last minute, they equalised, second half they scored early. Lack of concentration.”
While his assessment is not an unfair one, questions can be asked of Jamil as well. They could be about Subhashish and Lalengmawia Ralte, both of whom weren’t to be seen even on the bench in Singapore last week but were in the starting 11 on Tuesday. Or why India were so pragmatic early in that away match despite knowing that they needed to win every game to stand a chance of qualifying for the 2027 tournament in Saudi Arabia.
To be fair to Jamil, though, one could continue asking questions that keep going much further back. All of which have contributed to India being knocked out of contention in the race to qualify for even their continental tournament – which would feature no fewer than 24 teams – a day after Cape Verde, with a population of just over five lakh, made it to the FIFA World Cup.
The Indian players could be seen sitting with blank looks on their faces minutes after the final whistle was blown. They still don’t know where they go from here. There is a Super Cup coming up but there is still no word on a start date for the top or second tier football leagues of the country.
