Half-time had Erwin Koeman marching towards the change room looking angry. Two late goals from Al-Mandhar Al-Alawi ensured Koeman’s night ended with a round of handshakes and it is Igor Stimac who will now have to rouse a sucker-punched team, one that took no points from a World Cup qualifier after looking like it would take all three till the 82nd minute.
“We are very sad. I don’t know why we had to suffer. We could have killed the game in the first half but guess we didn’t have the experience to do that,” said Stimac after the 1-2 defeat here on Wednesday.
By the 26th minute, Koeman had turned his back to the team once and minutes later, he was seen in a deep huddle with one of his assistants. On a hot, muggy night Oman, trailing by Sunil Chhetri’s 24th minute goal, were feeling the heat.
India played the first 45 minutes and a minute of added time with the kind of composure and efficiency --- in all areas barring the heart of the defence --- that isn’t associated with them. “I was angry that Oman were playing below their level. Our goalkeeper was having a difficult night and he wasn’t the only one. They deserved to be 1-0 up at half-time,” said Koeman.
India started stronger in the second half and had Lallianzuala Chhangte showed composure and passed to a better-placed Chhetri in the 64th minute, the night could have ended differently. “2-0 then and game over,” said Koeman.
{{/usCountry}}India started stronger in the second half and had Lallianzuala Chhangte showed composure and passed to a better-placed Chhetri in the 64th minute, the night could have ended differently. “2-0 then and game over,” said Koeman.
{{/usCountry}}If India ended the first half well it was because two players decided to impose themselves early in the night: Anirudh Thapa and Ashique Kuruniyan.
The plan to attack the right side of Oman’s defence with Kuruniyan’s pace worked. By the fourth minute, India had won a corner-kick because Oman wide right Raed Saleh and right-back Saad Mukhaini couldn’t contain the 22-year-old from Mallapuram who was spotted by a talent hunt programme by the Kerala Football Association. Saleh was substituted at half-time.
If Kuruniyan was scorching the pitch at the Indira Gandhi Athletic stadium here, Thapa, 21, was playing a key role as a deep-lying midfielder. He shared defensive responsibilities in the middle with Rowllin Borges and was crucial in the transition of play. Thapa found Sunil Chhettri early with a ball that forced goalkeeper Faiyaz Rusheidi to leave his line. It was Thapa’s interception of a goalkick along with quick thinking by Chhetri that fetched India’s best move of the first quarter. One that ended in Udanta Singh hitting the horizontal.
On the break, Oman had managed to get a look at Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s goal before that but Abdulaziz Maqbali’s shot was too close to trouble him. The next time Oman came that close was near half-time when Sandesh Jhingan missed an interception and it needed a reflex save from Sandhu to deny Ahmed Kano, the midfielder unable to direct the rebound into goal.
By then India had scored and Koeman was seen working on his nails. Kuruniyan was felled for a free-kick and as Brandon Fernandes ran in to shoot, Chhetri lost his marker by pulling out from the crowd. Before Oman realised how, the left-footer was at the back of the net and 22,798 people on their feet. It was a training ground routine executed to perfection.
Soon after, Chhetri found Udanta on the turn and even as Oman hurried back in desperation, the move broke down because Thapa couldn’t find the right return pass.
By the hour mark with the men in blue looking in control, the crowd was chanting ‘we want more’ and ‘India, India’ interchangeably.
Back from a long injury lay-off, Kuruniyan got taken off in the 78th minute and Manvir Singh came in to join Chhetri in front. Four minutes later, his pass travelled inches away from an outstretched Chhangte boot. It was inside the minute Oman had just equalised by getting a long ball behind India’s defence. A silly goal, Stimac said.
But by the time Oman made it 1-1, India’s lack of experience was starting to show. “When you have the lead, you pass among yourselves and make the opponents suffer and run; you don’t give away the ball easily by trying to run at them. It was not about being tired, it was about not knowing what to do,” said Stimac.
India were punished for that by Al-Alawi finding the back of the net with a right-footer in the 90th minute after cutting in. The defence had retreated a step too far.
“There will come a time when we will win such games, when we kill them in the first half. Tonight, I think the boys showed India they can play. We should be proud of them,” said Stimac.