4 min readAug 30, 2025 11:17 AM IST
First published on: Aug 30, 2025 at 12:08 AM IST
A long throw-in, a goalmouth scramble and a scrappy goal headed in by a defender. The Khalid Jamil era of Indian football started out in characteristic fashion.
But it got better a few minutes later as another defender tapped a loose ball home to give India a two-goal lead in their CAFA Cup opener against hosts Tajikistan.
Over the course of the rest of the match, India resisted wave after wave of attacks, let in a goal, conceded a penalty that goalkeeper and captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu saved, headed, kicked and willed the ball clear and finished on the right side of a 2-1 scoreline.
Indian football has not made news for the right reasons of late. Stability and solidity have been practically absent from nearly every phase of the sport in the country. But it is with those two words that one could describe how the Indian team fared for much of their first match under Jamil against an opponent placed 27 spots above them in the FIFA rankings.
Jamil became the second Indian coach to win his first match in charge since Sukhwinder SIngh in 2001. His imprint could be seen in the team sheet itself – Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was back in goal after being dropped from the last two international camps under Manolo Marquez, wearing the captain’s armband.
The first goal under Jamil came in the fifth minute after some poor goalkeeping from Tajikistan’s Muhurrid Hasanov. He first made a hash of a fairly harmless cross from Aashique Kuruniyan and then failed to clear the resulting corner effectively, conceding a throw-in. India full-back Muhammed Uvais unleashed a long throw-in that caused all kinds of chaos in the box. Hasanov tried to palm the ball away, Anwar Ali jumped high to win the header, which was deflected in.
Less than 10 minutes later, Anwar turned creator. He sent in a cross from the right, Rahul Bheke got at the end of it with a header and Hasanov first saved from point-blank range. However, it only spilled kindly for Jhingan, who found the empty net.
The balance of play shifted the other way after that though, with the first shot towards Sandhu a wayward one around the 14-minute mark from outside the box. The pressure finally bore fruit for the hosts in the 23rd minute.
Suresh Singh Wangjam was turned around by Ehsoni Panshanbe, who then played a little one-two with Sheriddin Boboev before setting up striker Shahrom Samiev, who made no mistake.
Then came a period of pressure from Tajikistan, and thus a chance for Indian fans to probably notice what Jamil has worked on with this group of players in the few training sessions he got. India largely maintained two neat lines of four in front of Sandhu and kept resisting wave after wave of Tajik attacks. Jamil was prowling the touchline the whole time, barking orders at his wards.
India’s defensive resolve
Tajikistan had more of the ball and the game was played almost entirely in Indian territory after the first half an hour of the match, but the Indians stayed tight. Bheke and the brilliant Uvais nullified any attempts to attack from the wings and if the crosses did come in, Sandesh Jhingan and Anwar, more often than not, kept them out.
In the second half, the hosts came out firing and Sandhu had to make a couple of big saves in the opening minutes. There was also a close shave in the 51st minute, with defender Zoir Dzhuraboev’s header going just wide.
The referee pointed to the penalty spot after Tajikistan’s Rustam Soirov went down quite dramatically after the softest of touches from Vikram Pratap Singh inside the box. Gurpreet went to his right and saved Soirov’s effort with his feet.
More waves came and the Indians defended with everything they had. There was a spirit which had gone missing in Indian football in recent months.
India defeat Tajikistan 2-1 to open their CAFA Nations Cup campaign with a win. (Credit: AIFF) 
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