Asian Cup 2019: 5 Things We Learned as India lose to UAE  

#2 Long ball strategy works against slower, physical opponents

Pronay Halder Photo Courtesy: Indian Football Twitter handle

Even after a loss, India do have positives to take home from this fixture. One threatening and interesting move that was repeated by the players was a long ball strategy out onto the wings.

India do have pace in the form of Udanta Singh on the right wing and Ashique Kuruniyan playing a striker, withdrawn at times. Hence, the Blue Tigers can make very good use of the long balls that are coming from the defence line.

Indian centre backs Sandesh Jhingan and Anas Edathodika has excellent attributes of making accurate long passes. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu's long goal kicks are always an advantage. The custodian made 6 passes to the attackers throughout the game from goal kicks - 4 to Chhetri and 2 to Udanta. Both the times when Udanta was the target, we saw the Manipur-born winger making things hard for the UAE left-back.

Another similar tale is the Ashique-Anas combination. The centre back made sure his co-Keralite received the ball on 5 occasions. Sandesh Jhingan too had one good ball over the midfield to captain Chhetri.

With excellent pace on the wings and the defenders being slow, India do have the potential to send dangerous balls into the box. This can be a good strategy against the Bahrain defence, to win an aerial dual.