New Delhi: In an attempt to reboot following elimination from AFC Asian Cup qualification, India have been sucked further deep into the black hole they are in after a 1-0 defeat in Bangladesh.
Their wretched campaign turned from worse to worst as even fellow ousted team Bangladesh now have a win in the group after Tuesday, courtesy of Shekh Morsalin’s 11th minute strike.
But with their third loss in five matches India remain winless and at the bottom of the four team standings with only two points, three behind their Tuesday’s opponents.
It didn’t matter for Bangladesh that their home qualifier was a dead rubber. India’s handsomely paid footballers might have wanted to put in the same kind of effort but fell far short.
Aimlessly pushing up the field in the initial stages, they were caught napping by the fast legs of Rakib Hossain, who ran past Akash Mishra and then squared for Morsalin to poke the ball in through the legs of a hesistant Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
Neither any of India’s central defenders nor the full backs were in a position to block Morsalin from having a clear sight at goal as the visitors tried to retreat from advanced positions in vain.
Deficient all-round display
It was pretty much a summarisation of how tactically naive and positionally erring the Indians have been in this entire campaign, including a goalless draw in the first leg in Shillong on March 25.
Their inability was to score for over 80 minutes after trailing was another reminder of the glaring deficiency the team has when going forward.
Lack of imagination and devoid of ideas of how to get past determined opponents has been the story of the national team for some time now under successive coaches.
The three competitive matches that Khalid Jamil has been in charge little seems to have improved as Bangladesh valiantly cleared one botched attack after another.
FIFA rankings suggest India (136) are 53 rungs above Bangladesh, but at the National Stadium, it hardly seemed so as India floated centres and tried to go through the middle, with little success.
The moments they had, like when Lallianzula Chhangte shot with Bangladesh keeper Mitul Marma off the line after a faulty clearance, Hamza Chodhury headed it away from inside the box.
Or Rahul Bheke and Vikram Pratap heading wide to crosses from the left flank. But these sighters were few and far between and for a team that was hell bent on defending it was hardly troublesome.
Neither the regular faces noe the new ones could have any impact on the proceedings as Jamil shouted instructions from the touchline.
The little they saw off the ball, Bangladesh showed more purpose with it, though they lacked conviction to go for the second goal.
But on the night it was enough for them to have bragging rights over their opponents with whom they have an increasingly tense diplomatic relationship.