During the Asian Games opener on Tuesday, India lost 5-1 against the home side China. Despite the loss, India’s head coach, Igor Stimac, praised the players as “heroes” for their efforts. Stimac mentioned that the team “ran out of gas” in the second half of the match.
The reason might have been jetlag because Indian football players had to do hefty travel before the reached the the city of Hangzhou, China.
The Indian team had to field an unfamiliar line-up under captain Sunil Chhetri as most local clubs refused to release key players, citing domestic and Asian competitions. This made it difficult for the team to compete against China.
The first half of the match was fairly even at the Huanglong Sports Centre Stadium. However, in the second half, India wilted in difficult conditions and conceded four goals.
The story of the India vs China match
In the first half of the match, China started strong and had the visitors on backfoot with continuous press. They utilized the width of the field and put crosses into the box, which forced India’s goalkeeper, Gurmeet Singh, to make a couple of saves which was very crucial to give Indian team the confidence.
However, after India defended a corner poorly, Gao Tianyi scored from close range to give China the lead. India then conceded a penalty soon after, as Tan Long intercepted Ayush Chhetri’s pass and took the ball around Gurmeet before being brought down by the goalkeeper.
Gurmeet redeemed himself by saving Chinese captain Chenjie Zhu’s spot-kick. China slowed down towards the end of the first half, and Rahul KP scored a fantastic goal to level the score.
Abdul Rabeeh played a hopeful pass forward, and Rahul used his speed to get to it and then scored an excellent finish at the goalkeeper’s near-post from what seemed like a prohibitive angle.
China started the second half with greater intensity and retook the lead in the 50th minute through Dai Weijun’s strike from distance. From thereon, it was one side grasping firm control over the game and other side losing it.
India’s fitness then gave way, as Rabeeh, Bryce Miranda, and Sumit Rathi all began fighting cramps. China scored two quick goals from Qianglong Tao and wrapped up the contest before substitute Hao Fang put the exclamation on the victory in second-half stoppage time.
Igor Stimac, India’s head coach, said that if India had fielded their best team, they would have given China a “huge problem.” Despite the loss, Stimac praised the players as “heroes” for their efforts. The Indian team had to travel for 35 hours to get to China and arrived at two minutes past midnight the night before the match.
In the first half, the match was poised at 1-1, but India was unable to maintain the pace of the game in the second half. Abdul Rabeeh, Bryce Miranda, and Sumit Rathi suffered cramps during the match.
He also stated that the game would have been different if India had fielded their first-choice players, but it was difficult to get players for such a competition that was out of the FIFA window. India will need to improve their performance in their next two group games against Bangladesh and Myanmar if they want to advance.
In the Asian Games, the top two teams from each group, along with four of the six best-placed third-place teams, will qualify for the round of 16. Despite the loss to China, India’s head coach, Igor Stimac, said that the team would compete with their chins up.
Stimac also mentioned that he had a few players who proved to him that they deserved to be in the team, which was the best thing they could get.
