AFC Asian Cup 2019: 3 Reasons why India messed up a golden opportunity to make the Round Of 16

#1 Poor strategy of playing long balls against physically tougher sides

The height of the Indian strikers was not enough to win the long-balls over the six-feet tall Bahrainian defenders

Another strategy of team India that went wrong against Bahrain was to play long balls against the physically tougher sides.

Also in their previous match against UAE, the opponent defenders won most of the aerial balls over the Indian strikers.

Passing through balls towards Sunil or Udanta from the midfield was not much effective as it was easy for the stronger opponent to clear those threats.

The same story got repeated in yesterday's match against Bahrain where team India was trying to build their attack up based on the long-ball strategy. The height of the Indian strikers was not enough to win those long-balls over the six-feet tall Bahrainian defenders.

The strategy of building attacks up front by playing short passes among the players was missing yesterday and as a result, India failed to make it 0-0 in favour of them.

Moreover, the fully defensive strategy was not enough to secure a single point against Bahrain on Monday night as Bahrain's relentless attacking paid dividends. Jamal Rashed's late goal gave Bahrain the passport to the Round of 16 of the AFC Asian Cup 2019.

"Nobody expected us to do so well in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 and we showed that we belong here. However, football is a cruel game sometimes" - Sandesh Jhingan.