The Indians gave it their all. They chased down every ball with ferocious hunger, leaped high for every header and lunged to stop every through-ball, but emerged second best to United Arab Emirates. India struggled to convert its chances and slipped to a 2-0 loss to UAE in the Asian Cup on Thursday.
The Blue Tigers were undoubtedly the better team in the opening half. They attacked with hunger, defended with valour and looked imposing. They had two glorious chances to draw first blood but were undone by a momentary defensive lapse minutes from half-time.
Ali Mabkhout was released down the left flank and neither Anas Edathodika nor Sandesh Jhingan was able to decide who’d chase him down. Mabkhout made the most of their indecisiveness and ran between the two to race into the attacking third. He squared it to Khalfan Mubarak, who beat two defenders and produced a clinical finish. The home crowd, drowned out by the boisterous Indian fans, was brought back to life.
Talisman Sunil Chhetri came within inches of bagging the equaliser the very next minute, but his attempt drifted agonisingly wide.
It was Chhetri who won India’s first goal-scoring chance. He stole the ball in midfield and played a delicate through-ball to Ashique Kuruniyan with just the goalkeeper to beat. The winger tried to find the top corner but Khalid Eisa made a sharp save. Jhingan had a chance soon after, but his header flew wide.
Stephen Constantine’s men went into the interval, one-goal down but not low on spirits. And a smart one-two saw them nearly restore parity 13 minutes after resumption. Chhetri fed the ball to Udanta Singh in the box and he fired a thunderous strike that rattled the crossbar.
The forwardline remained incisive and continued to find gaps, but the defence remained shaky. With India still searching for the equaliser, Mabkhout put the contest to bed with two minutes left on the clock. Al-Hammadi lobbed it to Mabkhout who beat his marker and scored past a hapless Gurpreet.
The results: Group A: UAE 2 (Mubarak 41, Mabkhout 88) bt India 0; Bahrain 0 lost to Thailand 1 (Chanathip 58).
