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An unfortunate India went down 2-0 to the hosts United Arab Emirates in their second group game of the AFC Asian Cup 2019.
India managed to fashion a good number of chances for themselves, but it was a resilient performance from the hosts which put them through.
Goals from Khalfan Mubarak and Ali Mabkhout were enough for the UAE, on a night when coach Stephen Constantine could not have asked for anything more from his charges, in terms of effort.
Here's the biggest points of discussion from the game.
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#5 On the big stage, one mistake will cost you
The story of the first half for India was a story of missed opportunities, but the bigger story was that of one mistake at the back. A hopeful punt upfield from Khamis Ismaeel was only headed for Anas Edathodika to clear his lines easily.
But the Kerala man hesitated and that was enough for Ali Mabkhout to pounce on his mistake, and then set up Khalfan Mubarak, whose superb finish gave the UAE the lead against the run of play.
That is huge learning for India. On the biggest stage of football in this continent, you cannot afford to make schoolboy errors and get away with it against oppositions of this quality.
But, really, what was that error from Anas? They say that your big players need to be the ones taking responsibility on big nights. With the pitch as slippery as it was, the first cardinal sin was to let the ball bounce.
Anas is also not the quickest of feet, so once he had let the ball bounce and the ball had made its way a distance ahead of him, Mabkhout was always going to be favourite to pounce ahead of the centre-back.
For India though, this is a learning curve, and they will learn from this. They would now know, though, that they cannot afford any such mistakes in their last group game, on Monday, against Bahrain.
#4 UAE's professionalism killed off India
Alberto Zaccheroni is an old, experienced head, and that showed tonight. He has been under fire from the Emirati media for the way the team has performed in recent games, but the Italian earned his money today, with some of his decisions.
The biggest of them was to bring on Majed Hassan in midfield to replace Khamis Ismaeel. In the first half, the UAE weren't able to deal with the nous and positioning of Sunil Chhetri, who had positioned himself just in between the midfield and the defensive line and causing havoc.
Hassan just came on and sat in that space, and killed off India's biggest attacking threat, by not allowing him room to manouevre.
That meant that Chhetri was not able to bring others, like Udanta Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan into play as much as he was able to in the first-half.
Once the game crossed the hour mark, the UAE sensed desperation in Indian ranks and decided that all they had to do was keep the ball, stroke it around, and allow India to chase it.
They were the most-fancied side in this group, and in the second half, the UAE showed just why they are.
#3 Stephen Constantine got his substitutions wrong
As much as this fearless, counter-attacking approach has been a breath of fresh air from Indian manager Stephen Constantine, some of the moves that he made in the second half were absolutely baffling.
Udanta Singh was India's biggest threat on the night. His pace was causing Alhassan Saleh all sorts of problems on India's right flank. The Bengaluru FC man had even hit the crossbar in the second half.
So, to put Jackichand Singh on to replace Udanta was a baffling move from Constantine. Even more so, when you saw that Ashique Kuruniyan really struggled in the second half after being moved out to the left flank to accommodate the half-time arrival of Jeje Lalpekhlua.
When you're chasing a game, you need all the attacking threat you can get. India was deprived off their threat from midfield when Anirudh Thapa was taken off to be replaced by Rowllin Borges.
Thapa's ability to pick a pass and his set-piece deliveries should've ensured that he stayed on the pitch for as long as India were chasing the game.
Udanta and Thapa could've both been huge cogs in the wheel for India to score, as they were in the first half, where only a combination of poor finishing and ill-luck kept India's goal tally unaltered.
#2 Unlucky India
Really, India could've been out on the pitch for 180 minutes tonight and still have not scored a goal. They really could not have done anything more from a chance-creation perspective.
Ashique Kuruniyan had the first chance of the night when Sunil Chhetri slipped him through one-on-one with Khaled Eisa, but the UAE custodian pulled off a fabulous save. Sandesh Jhingan also should've scored off two set-pieces, but didn't get his headers on target.
Sunil Chhetri, India's captain on the night will also be kicking himself. He was put the ball on the plate by a superb ball from Anirudh Thapa, and his header was straight at Eisa in goal, when he really should have put it either side of the 'keeper.
He also had a chance straight after Khalfan had put UAE ahead when he got on the end of a long punt from Gurpreet, but put his shot just wide.
Udanta Singh and Jhingan hit the crossbar in the second half, as well. Udanta's rasping drive after a one-two with Chhetri had Eisa beaten for all money. And so did Jhingan's redirect off Rowllin's free-kick.
On another day, India convert a few of those chances, but that's what you get in football, and Constantine will have to pick the team up and hope to maintain similar performance levels against Bahrain.
#1 India can be proud of their efforts
For a large portion of that game, the Blue Tigers were absolute warriors, fighting united for that cause. They defended as a unit for the most part, they were sprightly in pressing the opposition, they were creating chances, and it was just not their day.
On Monday in Sharjah, they have their date with destiny though. If India don't lose against Bahrain, they should qualify for the Round of 16, and there's one more big effort that is going to be needed.
Bahrain have shown that they are a good side, with fantastic quality, but India have probably played the best football amongst all the teams in this group.
So, they should really fancy their chances of getting a positive result and qualifying for the next round.
With a little more luck, they could even have booked their place in the next round tonight, but it wasn't to be. Regardless, India can be proud. Proud of their fight, proud of their desire, proud of their spirit.
There's one big night to go. January the 14th, 2019. The Sharjah Stadium. Will the Blue Tigers rise in a new chapter for Indian Football?
