- By Manik Sharma
- Sun, 14 Jan 2024 01:20 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
AFC Asian Cup: India's National Football Team commenced their fifth AFC Asian Cup campaign on a disappointing note, succumbing to a 2-0 defeat against Australia in a Group B opener at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar.
But looking at the ranking differences between the two teams, India did pretty well to remain competitive throughout the game.
The World No 25, Australia secured three points with midfielder Jackson Irvine opening the scoring early in the second half. In the 73rd minute, right-back Jordan Bos doubled the lead, sealing a 2-0 victory for Australia.
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Despite the defeat, Indian centre-back Sandesh Jhingan found positives in the match. He highlighted the positive atmosphere in the dressing room, noting that the Australian team exhibited signs of nervousness and panic during the match.
"Of course, we are disappointed with the defeat. You’re playing a team who went to the Round of 16 in the World Cup, so we can expect what happened today. A lot of good points, a lot of good lessons to learn from it," Indian Super League quoted Jhingan as saying.
“We spoke now in the dressing room and there was a positive vibe. Of course, we were disappointed but in the back of our mind we knew, we could feel it, we could sense it, that they were having their nervy moments, we could hear it from their bench. They were panicking,” the defender added.
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Jhingan, who led the backline with maturity, downplayed individual praise, highlighting the importance of the team's performance.
"If the team wins, I had a great game, if the team loses, I had a bad game. That’s it. It’s all about the team. Of course, I want to contribute as much as I can, which will help the team to win. But, I am as good as the team, so if the team loses, I am a loser today," Jinghan added.
Reflecting on the match, Jhingan acknowledged moments of defensive resilience and emphasised the need to learn from the experience.
“In the first half we created decent chances, of course we dropped back at certain moments which was bound to happen, but we defended well at certain moments. Just these lessons, we gotta learn from them, we gotta play them more often,” Indian defender added.
India are set to face Uzbekistan on January 18 and conclude the group stage against Syria on January 23.