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India opened their much-awaited 2018 AFC Asian Cup campaign with a thumping 4-1 win over Thailand, scripting their first win in the competition in 55 years.
Having last played in 2011 and finishing 16th, India came into the tournament looking to better their dismal record in the competition and hopefully salvage at least a point in the opening match of the tournament.
With the speculation revolving over the possibility of Balwant and Jeje in the starting XI, Stephen Constantine decided to start with FC Pune City’s Ashique Kuruniyan instead in the left-winger position along with Subhasish Bose over Narayan Das in left back.
Having expected to be defensive against a formidable Thai side, India looked confident with the ball with instances of attacking football in the early minutes of the game. Even though Thailand did test the Indian defence on occasions, the defenders managed to hold Thailand from getting into the lead.
The scoring opened from an unlikely Indian lead as Ashique Kuruniyan managed to earn a penalty off a handball from defender Theerathon Bunmathan inside the box, to which Chhetri sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to put India 1-0 up.
Thailand equalised soon after six minutes as a curling freekick from Theerathon Bunmathan was headed into the goal by Teerasil Dangda over a poorly positioned Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
With both the teams going into the halftime tied at 1-1 the game looked quite open and all three results possible by the end of the next 45. When the second half did commence India unfolded a totally different story altogether with an absolutely dominating display on the pitch.
55 seconds into the second half, Sunil Chhetri scored again, firing from 18-yards to put India 2-1 up. 13-minutes later Thapa sealed the victory with a calm finish off an assist from Udanta with Jeje putting the cherry on top, scoring 10 minutes later to finish the game 4-1 for India.
With that win, India sits on top of Group with an important goal difference of +3. Even if the match had its fair share of moments, here are the 3 important reasons why India could script a historic victory in the game.
#1 A superb defensive performance
India came into the game with an expectation to be the defensive side of the two and consequently demanded a lot from the defenders to step up for the game.
Constantine started off with the likely pair of Jhingan and Anas in the middle and Pritam Kotal in the right-back position. Although many speculated Narayan Das to get a start Subhasish Bose instead got the opportunity to patrol India’s left-back position and accordingly did a stellar job to keep the Thai attack at bay.
The defenders started cautiously and faced a stronger resilience in the first half as opposed to the second half of the game. The Thailand attack did put the defence to test early on in the game with multiple long balls and shots from outside of the box but none could penetrate the goal thanks to the constant resistance from the back four.
The Indian defence was disciplined in their approach, achieving a high work rate and showed great work ethic throughout the game. Even though they faced small niggles during the game, the camp would be patting their back with their performance on the field today. The only goal that was conceded today can be credited to the sublime cross by Theerathon Bunmathan rather than being called a defensive error.
All in all the team would be very happy for the performance they put up today but they know they would face sterner tests in the upcoming matches of the tournament but they will be very confident going into the second game.
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#2 Sunil Chhetri leading the way
If there was one person on whom India relied the most to deliver on the pitch today, it was India’s oldest player in the starting line-up - 34-year-old Sunil Chhetri - and he did lead the way for India’s victory in the best of ways possible.
Chhetri was crucial in India’s first goal as he was quick to get the ball rolling from a swiftly taken throw from the touchline that reached Ashique, who managed to salvage a penalty for India. With a cool and a calm finish, Chhetri managed to score the opener for India thus instilling some belief of India bringing out a result from the game.
The belief was further deepened as he scored an absolute cracker from 18-yards off a deflected ball from Ashique’s feet who received a brilliant cross for Udanta from the right wing. That goal provided a lot of confidence for India to steal the game from Thailand and opened the floodgates for two more goals on the scoresheet for India.
Today’s match was a definite reflection on the kind of impact that a player like Chhetri has on the team. India will be hoping there are better things to come from the striker which is a must if the men in blue are to progress to the further stages of the tournament.
Not to forget, Chhetri has now gone past Lionel Messi in the list of highest scorers among active footballers in International football.
#3 Overall poor performance from Thailand
Even though credits await the Indian team for their performance in today’s game, to be fair, it was a pretty disappointing performance from Thailand who would be cursing themselves to not salvage at least a point from the game.
Thailand started off on a good note and looked on par with the Indian team with their forward line in Kraisorn, Puangchan and Dangda posing a regular threat for the blue tigers in the early stages of the game. When Dangda scored the equaliser for Thailand one expected the Thais to be more lethal in the game and give India a fight for the three points.
But the post-halftime narrative was a totally different story as the Thais were sluggish for the major part of those 45 minutes and opened up spaces in the defence for India to capitalise. India also didn’t receive much pressure up the field from the Thai midfield and attack as the passage of passing was free for India to capitalise, who otherwise rely on plenty of long balls for attacks.
However, thanks to Thailand’s sluggish play, India’s oldest player in Sunil Chhetri, youngest player in Anirudh Thapa and out of form Jeje Lalpekhlua, all got their names on the score sheet, which is very important for India going forward. Taking no credits away from this historic win but one would agree that India was not completely tested on true terms in their Asian Cup opener.
