India led defending champions Qatar till 10 minutes from time before going down by the odd goal in three in Group D of the Asian Games football competition in Guangzhou on Tuesday.
After two defeats in as many games and a goal difference of -3, India's chance of making the pre-quarter finals even as one of the four best third-placed teams looks slim.
"We missed a couple of chances to really kill the game after taking the lead in the first half. It hurts that we conceded in second-half injury time against Kuwait.
"But we are still not out of contention. The aim is to win against Singapore on Thursday," coach, Sukhwinder Singh, told Hindustan Times from Guangzhou over the phone on Tuesday.
At the Huadu Stadium, India led through Dharmaraj Ravanan's header off a 19th minute corner-kick. India, who started with the same team that began against Kuwait on Sunday, controlled proceedings till deep into the final quarter.
That was when Jaralla Ali turned the match on its head. He equalised with a looping header in the 80th minute before netting the match-winner in the 88th.
{{/usCountry}}That was when Jaralla Ali turned the match on its head. He equalised with a looping header in the 80th minute before netting the match-winner in the 88th.
{{/usCountry}}"Given the potential of this squad, I would say we exceeded expectations. The boys were not overawed and were physically up to it till after 90 minutes. We also missed two sitters, Balwant missed a one-to-one chance," said Sukhwinder.
India will miss Robert Lalthlamuana against Singapore after the left back picked up his second booking.