Asian Games: Indian men's football team bow out in pre-quarters after 0-2 loss

Indian menrsquos football teams campaign at the 19th Asian Games 2023 ended in Round of 16 after a 02 loss to Saudi Arabia here at the Huanglong Sports Center Stadium on ThursdayEn route to the knockouts Sunil Chhetri and Co lost to China 51 in the opener before beating Bangladesh 10 and holding Myanmar to a 11 draw India finished second in Pool A behind China to seal a prequarterfinal spotIndias plan right from the getgo was to turn the game into a physical gritty scrappy battle Igor Stimac had stressed on the importance of fighting it out on the pitch and it was no surprise to see the Blue Tigers put bodies behind the ball and rely on the counter to surprise their opponentsAlso Read Mumbai City FC Odisha FC play out exciting 22 drawDespite holding possession for large periods of the first half Saudi Arabia didnt really have too many clearcut chances to go ahead and for the first quarter were reduced to taking potshots at goal from distance Chinglensana Singh and Sandesh Jhingan marshalling the defence beautifully to keep them at bayIndia had their first chance of the game in the 14th minute Chhetri the architect and the artist cutting past three Saudi players before a lucky bounce presented him with a chance to shoot at goal from outside the box Shoot he did albeit straight into the arms of Ahmed FahadFrom thereon Saudi recognised Indias threat on the counter and pressed higher and harder to negate it Every clearance or loose ball was immediately snatched upon and the Indian team were forced back into their own half for most of the halfIn the 22nd Saudi Arabia came close to opening the scoring Haitham Asiri curling a shot from just outside the box onto the crossbar From an ensuing melee the ball dropped to Awad Al Nashri whose shot from a narrow angle drifted wideDeep into the half Dheeraj Singh made a smart save dropping low to his right to save from an Asiri freekick and Jhingan blocked from Zakaria Al Hawsawi in injury time to ensure India went into the break levelSaudi came quickly out of the blocks in the second half and six minutes in Marran Mohammed headed in a cross by Abu Al Shamta to give them the lead He got a second in the 57th minute calmly collecting Saad Al Nassers through ball cutting past Dheeraj and slotting it into the netFrom there it was all about game management for both sides Saudi Arabia were keen to not let their levels drop and for the Blue Tigers it was crucial to not open up at the back in the search for a goal and concede moreDheeraj made some brilliant saves mdash the standout being one where he went diving backwards to save a header from Rayan Hamed mdash to ensure the deficit wouldnt increase In the end the Blue Tigers first appearance in the knockouts in over a decade ended valiantly though without any dividendsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever