It was India’s fifth AFC Asian Cup campaign and third since the turn of the century, but there was something different about the 2023 edition. After a very long time, the Indian football team evoked positivity and hope going into a big competition. India had three trophy wins in 2023, a return to sub-100 FIFA rankings for the first time since 2018, a 15-game unbeaten streak at home, a transformed aggressive style of play in the buildup to the tournament and who can forget that special night in Bengaluru when India won the SAFF Championship beating a West Asian side (Kuwait) and thousands sang the ‘Vande Mataram’ in sync at the Sri Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium.
The tough AFC Asian Cup 2023 group that included three higher-ranked teams, one of them who ran the 2022 World Cup winners and Lionel Messi’s Argentina close at the FIFA event just over a year ago, hardly mattered to those who had followed the team closely. This is not to say, a realist would have expected world No. 102 India to beat 25th Australia, 68th Uzbekistan or 91st Syria, but it’s not always about the result.
The process is more important. The fight is more important. The determination is more important. Without all these, there will be no victories. India were not always expected to win the matches, but they were at least expected to fight and fight hard. It was this willingness to fight that had fans feeling positive about the national team in a long time.
This fight was at the forefront when India defeated two West Asian teams back-to-back, for the first time in their history, to lift the SAFF Championship. Even in the defeats to Iraq, Malaysia and Qatar after the SAFF Championship victory, there was no lack of grit, guts and gumption.
“When you wear our jersey, you commit to India above oneself,” is how coach Igor Stimac defined the team culture on social media in September 2023.
This fight, however, was lacking big time as India suffered a disappointing exit from the AFC Asian Cup 2023 on Tuesday after yet another crushing defeat. On Tuesday, it was a 1-0 defeat to Syria. On 18 January, it was a 3-0 loss to Uzbekistan and on 13th, it was a 2-0 defeat to Australia. In all three games, India were outplayed as they lacked the spirit that had become their new identity.
Apart from the first half against Australia in India’s first game, where the Blue Tigers matched their higher-ranked opponents toe-to-toe, the next five halves were all about mistakes, squandering the chances and chasing the game.
The six goals that India conceded in three matches all came as a result of the defensive mistakes. It started with Gurpreet Singh Sandhu deflecting the ball straight to Jackson Irvine to help Australia score the first goal and ended with Omar Khribin making a mockery of the Indian defence. The Uzbekistan game was the toughest for the defenders as the pace and skill of the White Wolves proved too hot to handle.
I know we lost the game and I’ll put my hand up taking responsibility for what could’ve been avoided and be dealt better. The team did really well against a WC side , we take the positives and learn from the experience. Big shoutout to the amazing fans who came in numbers #India pic.twitter.com/Hw681vfVCo
— Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (@GurpreetGK) January 14, 2024
In between India missed whatever little chances came their way. Even Chhetri wasn’t able to bury the chances that he got. Overall, they took 21 shots at goal, five of them were on target, but none of them resulted in a goal.
𝐒𝐎 𝐂𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐄!!
— Sports18 (@Sports18) January 13, 2024
Sunil Chhetri misses the target with a header from close range 😯
Tune in & cheer for the #BlueTigers. Watch #AUSvIND - LIVE NOW on #JioCinema & #Sports18 👈#IndianFootball #AsianDream #AsianCup2023 pic.twitter.com/ijTH4QNY5e
Still, the part that hurt them the most was the fact that they looked less hungry as compared to their opponents in all three matches. While a few players, especially Sandesh Jhingan, Subhashsh Bose, Surseh Wangjam, Apuia and Deepak Tangri, left everything on the pitch, the same can’t be said about the others. This in the end proved to be the difference between them converting chances, shutting out attacks and clinching results before Asian Cup and not at the tournament.
If grit, guts and gumption came to be the defining characteristics of the Indian football team under Igor Stimac, the AFC Asian Cup 2023 was a huge departure from those attributes. So much so that at times, the team was unrecognisable.
