Football: Indian National Team news ...

[Sin Hombre]

We went downhill because of increased participating in Asian football. That said, no Asian team has ever been real good, and there have only been a couple of Asian players who could be considered world class in history so at least we are not alone in this misery.

[jayakris]

#106 India lost a friendly yesterday to #91 Jordan 0-2... Not good. This was a prep match ahead of the final round of qualifiers of the 2023 Asia Cup starting on June 8th.

But apparently we played well and it was all tied till the 75th minute but Jordan scored and then we allowed a second goal in the 4th minute of extra time as we tried hard for an equalizer.

We have lost three friendlies in a row now. Since winning the SAFF Cup in last October, we have lost to Bahrain (1-2) and Belarus (0-3) in late March and now to Jordan (0-2), ranked #89, #93 and #91 in the world. That is a horrible stretch of futility in scoring 1-7 in three games. These are not unbeatable juggernauts or anything that we are playing. But it was all on the road though. The last two in Bahrain and the latest in Doha.

We have not played a game in India in a very long time.

[jayakris]

I didn't realize that our last home game was over 2.5 years ago in October 2019!!! ... That world cup qualifier draw against Bangaldesh in Kolkata.

We finally play a home game on June 8th. Cambodia, Hong Kong and Afghanistan come to Kolkata to play the 3rd round qualifying for Asian Cup 2023. On 8th against #171 CAM, 11th against #150 AFG and 14th against #147 HKG. Kolkata is one of 6 venues where the 11 final slots of AFC Asian Cup's 24 spots are picked from 4-team pools. All 6 winners plus the best 5 runner-up will make it in. So, we have a pretty good chance to advance to the final round from Kolkata.

(By the way, rankings are all pretty unreliable these days below the top-100 or so. A lot of teams have played very little in the last 2+ years)

[arjun2761]

I expect India will pull through but expect closely fought games. Those other teams aren't that different than us in quality.

[Rajiv]

Later tonight India takes on Cambodia and a halfwit decision by MamataDidi in permitting only 12,000 spectators in a 100000 plus capacity Salt Lake stadium and thereby completely nullifying home advantage for us, citing law and order.(Didn't we have 100k plus for IPL Finals).

Meanwhile Hong Kong leading Afghanistan 2-1 with minutes left for the final whistle, infact Hkg was 2 nil just a minute ago.

[Rajiv]

"Who Else" scores the first goal, India 1-0 after 17 minutes.

[Omkara]

"Who Else" scores the first goal, India 1-0 after 17 minutes.

Not a great game by India

[jayakris]

"Who else" is at it again, at minute 60. It is 2-0 India. (and that is the final score over Cambodia)

[Omkara]

After "who else" scored the second goal, the Indian team came out of sedation and played some fast football. Good decision by Igor to remove "who else" immediately, so that others can have a go. But lot of missed chances. Would have loved it if some one other than "who else" scored. But first win for Igor on Indian soil.

The other two teams are weak. HK and Afgan. We lost and drew with Afgan team off late. So can't say. But if we win both, we directly go to Asia Cup finals....

[jayakris]

Yeah, Hong Kong is better than Afghanistan, but I worry more about our match against the Afghans because the subcontinental teams get more spirited in trying to beat us (and Afghanistan always plays well against us).

That said, we must beat Hong Kong, or we will be in trouble. They aren't going to lose to Cambodia.

[prasen9]

Later tonight India takes on Cambodia and a halfwit decision by MamataDidi in permitting only 12,000 spectators in a 100000 plus capacity Salt Lake stadium and thereby completely nullifying home advantage for us, citing law and order.(Didn't we have 100k plus for IPL Finals).

Wt* law and order? Unless there is a backstory such as AIFF asked for security late or it coincides with something else that needed security, we have regularly had full Salt Lake stadia with rabid fans from two clubs going at each other and things were fine. Here there would really be no opposition supporters. This is crazy. If she cannot provide law and order for a football match and things have gone so bad that our police is not good enough to handle 100k people, then she should resign.

If it was for covid, ok, maybe I could understand.

[Rajiv]

And "Who Else" also expressed his dissapointment on the seating restrictions which were imposed.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpr ... 1851/lite/

[Rajiv]

Next round opponents Hong Kong will be a stiffer opposition, 5 to 6 Brazilian naturalized players form the core impetus of the team.
With much fanfare Jorn Anderson has been inducted as Hong Kong Coach, couple of months ago, and Anderson previously was the coach of North Korea and later the top S.Korean club Incheon.

Great enthusiastic following in the territory for this tournament as the last remaining vestiges of Hkg having a separate identity.

[jayakris]

Phew, India beat Afghanistan 2-1 to stay alive. "Who else" scored in the 86th minute, and AFG equalized just 2 minutes later. Then one minute into the extra Samad scored again for us!!...

Hong Kong beat Cambodia 3-0, so they lead the table right now. We need to beat them in the next match to be sure of advancing. A draw or a close loss might be enough to make it in as at least the 5th best second place team in the 6 pools, I guess.

[jayakris]

By the way, that free kick goal from Chhetri today was fantastic. Curving in around the wall. Whoa... The final winner from Sahal Samad and the fantastic pass from Ashique Karuniyan that made it happen were great too see. These youngsters are pretty good, but maybe I am biased because they are Malayalees