Kolkata: There are defeats that deserve applause, and there are defeats from which positives must be carefully extracted. India’s 0-4 loss to Brazil on Saturday probably belonged to the latter.
Visiting head coach Carlo Ancelotti was generous in his assessment of his rivals, as winning coaches often are.
“They defended, they were organised, and they tried to play on the counter-attack. I think that they played a good game,” Ancelotti said at the post-match press conference. “We had difficulty opening the score but the moment we opened the scoring with Estevao, we had more opportunities to control the game better.”
Gracious as it was, reading the familiar lines from the coaches’ press conference manual, one needs to strip away the occasion that included the sight of Vinicius Junior at the Salt Lake Stadium and the novelty of India sharing a pitch with Brazil.
Perhaps the glitz and glamour of international football rarely seen in India left many ‘influenced’, especially on social media, into believing that a new leaf had been turned in Indian football. But beyond the spectacle, the scoreline told a less romantic story. To put it simply, India were outplayed.
To the credit of the Blue Tigers, there certainly was a fight as the hosts frustrated a quality of footballers these players have rarely, if ever, encountered against a top five nation. The defensive lines remained compact and Brazil were forced to probe for openings. The fairytale lasted for all but 27 minutes.
Once Chelsea winger Estevao scored in the 28th minute, they finished it off before half time when Pedro added another in the 42nd minute.
Ancelotti knew it too as he withdrew Vinicius, Estevao and three others at the break. The remaining 45 minutes became as much about distributing international minutes across his squad as winning the game.
Brazil eventually used all of its bench with Samuel Lino, who replaced Vinicius, striking twice for his first goals for Brazil while the coach continued to assess players for the future.
To be honest, this was hardly an all-conquering Brazil either as they are rebuilding after another disappointing World Cup with Ancelotti himself admitting this international window was about discovering which youngsters could become part of the national team’s future.
The gulf was made apparent in all sections, including the Brazilian half, where their high defensive line was barely put under pressure. The likes of Ashique Kuruniyan, Manvir Singh and Ryan Williams, stars of the Panama match, occasionally found gaps in Brazil’s backline but lacked the pace to count on initial yards gained.
In comparison, India deserved the praise that followed their 1-1 draw against world No. 44 Panama. They competed for 90 minutes and earned that result but a four-goal defeat against Brazil doesn’t offer any promise.
National team head coach Khalid Jamil, to his credit, was more pragmatic.
“Until 27 minutes everything was okay,” said the man of few words. “One silly goal happened, then the second goal… if you play with a good team, one mistake, finish.”
Indian football has long been learning, accumulating experience and finding little victories within larger defeats. There is value in that but top-level football is clearly beyond reach at this point. Perhaps Jamil provided the most appropriate reality check.
Asked to rate India’s performance out of 10 after those encouraging opening 27 minutes, Khalid quipped: “Abhi zero point mila hai hum log ko (zero point is all we got at the moment).”