Men: Unbeatable but very disappointing so far, India’s face that was besieged in Maldives’s house in their last round match from the Saffal Championship on Wednesday, knowing that no less than a victory would save them from elimination.
Draw or losses will send India from the calculation for the final of the regional tournament and it will be the worst result for India in recent memory, which can also ask questions about the continuation of the Igor coach’s head on top of affairs.
The worst performance for seven-time champion India before this edition was the finish third place in 2003 and the country has won or completed runners-up in the previous 11 editions.
All four top sides in the five team tournaments remained in the dispute for the final October 16.
With five points from two lotteries and one victory, India is currently in third place under Maldives (six points from three matches) and Nepal (six points from three matches).
Nepal Play Bangladesh (fourth place with four points) in the previous match on Wednesday.
Champion twice and survive Maldives has never been easier for India in the history of this regional tournament even though the island country sits 51 points ranked under India on the FIFA chart in 158.
The side led by Veteran Ali Ashfaq, one of the best strikers in the area, has gathered Back after losing the opening match against Nepal, beat Bangladesh 2-0 and Sri Lanka 1-0.
Just like the Indian captain Sunil Chhetri, this 36-year-old Ashfaq has brought Maldives football on his shoulders for a long time and he has scored two of his team’s three goals in this tournament.
He will, no doubt, being an Indian man must be vigilant.
India felt the absence of sandesh jhingan experienced in deep defense because they could not maintain a 1-0 lead against 10-Man Bangladesh who scored late even though numeric inferiority.
In the second match against Sri Lanka who were ranked 205th, India advanced, including Chhetri, had holidays because they could not create sufficient opportunities and also failed to complete whatever opportunities they had to draw 0-0.
Chhetri came to save the team once more against Nepal, scored a decisive goal to match the legendary Pele in the previous match, but the question was how long it would continue to rely on 37-year-old opposition to find clean opposition.
Winger Nippy Udanta Singh has been inconsistent even though he has shown flashes of his abilities on the side of the seriton fernandes in defense and Brandon Fernandes in the midfield has been done quite well.
Understandably, stric has made a forward disability to change the assessment opportunity.
“We need to increase our score from the opportunities we make,” he said.
“Simple, if we do that, the game is very easy.
Otherwise you need to suffer until the end, or even beyond the end,” he added, still believing that it could reach the final.
With crazy Maldives football may play the role of the 12th player on Wednesday, Onus was on Strac and his men to avoid the confusion of the worst football in the country for a long time.