Saqib Hanif buried his face in his hands, his teammates encircling him to comfort him, and it was hard not to feel bad for the broken and humiliated player.
Only seven hours before the match against India began, the Pakistani custodian and 19 other players arrived in Bengaluru. Hanif arrived to the South Asian Football Championship’s first match with little sleep and fatigue from a lengthy overnight flight from Mauritius to Mumbai. was m
Only Hanif will know if it was that, stage fright from playing in front of 22,860 spectators, or the damp outfield. However, in the 10th minute, his gaffe allowed India to overrun the pitch and ended any chance of a surprise.
Chhetri’s hat-trick and a goal from Udanta Singh meant that India began their title defence of the regional championship with an easy 4-0 victory against their neighbours on a rainy night at the Sree Kanteerva Stadium.
Few mismatches are as large as this one. In writing and on the pitch; statistically and in terms of scores
Ranked 195th in the world is Pakistan. According to FIFA rankings, only 16 nations are worse than them. Five years ago, they last achieved international success. They have lost three times while giving up seven goals alone in the past ten days.
As many as nine Pakistani players, including the six who started the game, were born abroad and compete in international leagues, which is why Stimac advised caution. Consider the centre back Easah Suliman, a product of the Aston Villa system, who represents Portuguese club Vilafranquense while on loan from Vitoria de Guimaraes of the Primeira Liga. Or Otis Khan, an attacking midfielder for Grimsby Town in the fourth tier of English football. Or Harun Hamid, whose most recent team was Queens Park Rangers in England. Denmark has five other players.
India entered the game fresh off a heartening victory over Lebanon, a side with a better ranking, with Stimac praising the team’s second-half performance as the “best in the last five decades.” The difference in class was evident as early as the opening minute, when Chhetri’s head was directly over the penalty spot by a flying cross from the left wing. Although Hanif did not have to work very hard to make the save, the action set the tone for the subsequent 89 minutes.
Lallianzuala Chhangte and Ashique Kuruniyan were unstoppable on the wings, while Sahal Abdul Samad was the creator-in-chief through the middle and Anirudh Thapa exuded class and composure. According to captain Suliman, Pakistan had not trained for the past three days.
India had few alternatives for their build-up play as the rain poured down and rendered the pitch slow. It wasn’t always attractive. With a little more finesse in the attacking third, the score for India could have been much more favourable as they simply avoided the Pakistani midfield and defence.
As much attention as Chhetri’s hat trick and the offensive display will receive, India’s defence enjoyed another successful day at work as they produced their seventh straight clean sheet, the longest stretch for the national team.
As Subhashish Bose and Pritam Kotal thwarted Pakistan’s attacks from the wider regions of the field, Anwar Ali and Sandesh Jhingan provided rock-solid defence in the middle. Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh had little to do after beating out first-choice keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for the starting position.
ford to celebrate this victory excessively.
