Kolkata: Indian football certainly knows how to make you believe. Unfortunately, the illusion does not always last.
Three nights after India held Brazil at bay for 27 minutes before it all fell apart in a 0-4 defeat, Khalid Jamil’s men produced another stirring opening act against Uruguay at the Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday to fall apart again for a 6-1 annihilation.
This time, it took a thunderstorm to interrupt the dream. Until play was suspended in the 26th minute, India had gone toe-to-toe with the two-time world champions. They had conceded, responded, equalised and, backed by 37,307 increasingly boisterous spectators, appeared to have Uruguay rattled.
A sliding clearance from Anwar Ali to snuff out Uruguay’s first attack was celebrated almost like a goal. Every successful press, tackle and Indian foray forward brought the crowd to its feet as the hosts dared to take the game to Uruguay.
Even Darwin Nunez’s 11th-minute penalty, after Pramveer mistimed his challenge on Federico Vinas, could not quieten them as India kept coming.
The reward arrived in the 22nd minute as Ryan Williams burst through midfield and let fly from distance. Thiago Cardozo could only parry the swirling effort and Anirudh Thapa calmly tucked away the rebound. Salt Lake erupted!
The roar almost drowned out the thunder rumbling above. When Anwar then intervened to stop Nunez before he could pull the trigger, the belief grew louder still. And then nature had its say.
Lightning forced both teams off the pitch and, cruelly for India, seemed to take their momentum with it.
Barely had the game restarted in pouring rain when a lapse on the left opened up space for Uruguay and Maxi Araujo restored their lead. India went into the break only 1-2 behind, but the spell had been broken.
Jamil’s familiar 4-4-2 had worked impressively early on, with Ashique Kuruniyan and Edmund Lalrindika dropping deep to deny Uruguay space out wide. But as India became more adventurous after the interval and tired legs began leaving gaps, Uruguay showed the ruthlessness that separates teams at this level.
Rodrigo Zalazar beat Gurpreet Singh Sandhu at his near post in the 53rd minute and Araujo struck again six minutes later. From there, India were chasing shadows as Juan Manuel Sanabria and Rodrigo Aguirre eventually completed a 6-1 rout.
The crowd that had spent the opening exchanges on its feet was now largely tired and subdued. Mohammed Sanan briefly brought it alive again with a piece of individual skill and an effort that forced an acrobatic save, while Gurpreet departed to whistles from a section of the stands when substituted late on.
For all the fight India displayed against Panama, Brazil and Uruguay, encouraging passages are not enough at this level. When legs tire, concentration slips and the bench is asked to sustain the intensity, the gulf in quality and depth becomes painfully apparent.
Result: Uruguay: 6 (Darwin Nunez 11th-pen, Maxi Araujo 29th, 59th, Rodrigo Zalazar 53rd, Juan Manuel Sanabria 71st, Rodrigo Aguirre 86th) bt India: 1 (Anirudh Thapa 22nd).