Indian Football Team lost 6-0 in their humiliating defeat against UAE at Dubai, Zabeel Stadium. The Blue Tigers were 2-0 down in the first half where India missed a few chances of scoring. However, UAE dominated the second half scoring 4 goals in a span of 25 minutes where India crumbled under pressure.
The Indian defense was all over the place after the first half. The team looked sloppy and the defense allowed UAE to create space inside the box and to score without much difficulty. Gurpreet Singh will be highly disappointed by the performance of their back-line, as Gurpreet was able to put up quite a fight and made some top saves.
India who showed up a really good performance against Oman whether it be defending and attacking and were highly applauded by Indian fans as well as celebrities even Sunil Chhetri spoke highly of them on Twitter after the match
The last time India conceded these many goals was back in 2010 when Kuwait beat them 9-1, that match was also played in UAE. After that India faced another defeat by 5-0 to UAE four days later.
India made unwanted record after UAE defeat:
However, India have changed their performance drastically and the Blue Tigers have qualified twice for the AFC Asian Cup. Even With the recent 6-0 defeat, the hard work done in the past cannot be undone. Considering this was only a friendly and the team is going through a transition.
This is still not India’s heaviest defeat in their history. India’s biggest defeat was against the Soviet Union back in 1955 where India lost by 10-1 in a friendly match. But UAE proved to be too good for India and got and thrashed them brutally on the International level. In the end, it was a friendly match and Igor Stimac got a good opportunity to test the young lads but conceding 6 goals in a single match would still be a hard pill to swallow.
After the match Igor Stimac have stated that
“The players need to understand that there are things we are too comfortable with. When you take too much time on the ball, the opponents will hurt you. We need to change that mindset. There is no time and space in international football, you have to adapt and play quickly,”
The most important thing for the Indian team will be to take this experience as a lesson and come back stronger in June when they face Qatar in the World-Cup qualifiers.
