AFC Asian Cup 2023: India were underprepared for marauding Uzbekistan

Indian football team coach Igor Stimac predicted a "storm is coming" as Blue Tigers got ready to open their AFC Asian Cup 2023 campaign against world No. 25 Australia. The storm did finally come, albeit a game late, against world No. 68 Uzbekistan as the White Wolves shredded India’s hopes and dreams to pieces with a comprehensive 3-0 win at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium Stadium to put Sunil Chhetri and his men on the brink of elimination. The Group B encounter in Al-Rayyan, which was witnessed by 38,491 fans in the stands, largely Indians, had everything that we expected from the Australia game. But where Socceroos missed, the Wolves hit. The tempo from the Uzbeks was so high at the start that you felt it was one of those nights where even a 6-0 defeat would be possible. Against Australia, India showed urgency in the way they pressed, once they had the ball, the intention was to look for the wingers and build an attack. Against Uzbekistan, at least in the first 15-20 minutes, 102-ranked India couldn’t think about what to do with the ball — because they had it so rarely. It took all of four minutes for the Srecko Katanec-coached side to open the scoring. Against a clueless Indian defence whose nerves were jangling, Jalololiddin Masharipov whipped in a cross from left, Igor Sergeev rose high to deflect it to far post, and the shortest Uzbeki payer on the pitch, Abbosbek Fayzullayev, headed it into the net, unmarked and untroubled. In the ninth minute, Sergeev tested Gurpreet Singh Sandhu with a stinging shot from the edge of the box which the goalkeeper managed to cut away with a dive to his right. In the 11th minute, Jalololiddin hit the crossbar with a free-kick from the left. In the 18th minute, Fayzullayev stole the ball from Rahul Beke at the half-way line and bombed forward for a cross from left which after a deflection was buried by Sergeev.

Just 18 minutes into it and the game was over. Given how profligate Indian had been in front of the goal, a comeback was never possible. “They are clinical in the chances that they create. They didn’t give away anything. On the other hand, we allowed them to create chances," is how Stimac summed up Uzbekistan’s performance in the match. India lacked composure most of all The 2011 Asian Cup semifinalists were clinical, but India, on the other hand, were faulty when they were not expected to be. The biggest change under the former Croatia player and coach Stimac, since he took over in 2019, has been the discipline that India have showed on the pitch. The improvements have come in how the team has been defensively resolute, stays composed under pressure and looks to play positive football. Against Uzbekistan, during the most crucial phase, which had the telling impact on the result, all of the above mentioned qualities were missing. There was no composure, there was no proper shape, there was no defensive organisation. Only ball-watching. It was as if India had never seen the football move at such a high speed. The reaction to every action was late by a good margin. Which begs the question - Were India underprepared for the game? Stimac’s verdict was that, “At this moment, this is our reality without too many key players”. It’s true the Blue Tigers were missing their pacy winger Lallianzuala Chhangte from the Australia game due to a groin injury. Anwar Ali, Ashique Kuruniyan and Jeakson Singh have not travelled to Qatar due to respective injuries, but nothing explains India lacking shape, presence of mind and calmness when Uzbekistan went into top gear at the very start.

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It’s no so much about the defeat. There’s no shame or surprise in losing to a side 34 spots ahead of you in the FIFA rankings, but it’s more about the team failing to find answers for Uzbek onslaught, which duly exposed how far India are from Asian elites. Now, whether India were not prepared for this onslaught or they lacked training time, as Stimac has often claimed, or the gulf in class is too much to bridge at the moment is something we will know once we look deeper into all the aspects. But the horror start did make you feel that India missed a trick by not playing a few friendlies against top quality sides ahead of the Asian Cup. India were one of the few sides not to play any friendlies, while Uzbekistan came in after facing Kyrgyz Republic and Palestine since 25 December. Formation failed India Another aspect which let India down was how they shaped up with the 4-2-3-1 formation. It is the same formation which worked decently against Australia, keeping them silent for 50 minutes, but with personnel changes and Uzbekistan employing two strikers in Sergeev and Fayzullayev, the Indian double pivot and the centre-back pairing were stretched. India made two changes to their starting XI with Naorem Mahesh Singh replacing Chhangte at left wing and attack-minded Anirudh Thapa coming in for Deepak Tangri. Tangri, in particular, was crucial in thwarting the Aussie attacks that were mounted from the middle and the wings. Against Uzbekistan, India’s full-backs and defensive midfielders had to work that much harder as the White Wolves stretched the coverage area of by using diagonal crosses and zipping through balls. [caption id=“attachment_13631632” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Uzbekistan’s Igor Sergeev, second left, celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal against India. AP[/caption] Maybe a better option for India would have been to continue with Tangri in midfield. This is not to say India needed to park the bus, but marking and defending against two strikers as compared to one is a whole different ball game. They are able to stretch the defence that much more, create space which can easily be exploited by the midfielders and wingers. If there was any saving grace, it was India dominating the possession in the second half and creating good chances which included Rahul KP hitting the crossbar and Naorem Mahesh and Bheke forcing keeper Utkir Yusupov to make diving saves. Indian will have to build upon these positives because they still have Syria game to go and are technically alive in AFC Asian Cup. Last 16 was always seen as a target too far, but it’s the performance which matters the most and once they get that right, the results will follow.