India v Singapore: Where was the Plan B?

Of course, India’s new playing style has led many to believe that football in the country is on the rise. And there is good reason for that – India’s football has been entertaining, they have beaten higher ranked teams, they have shown that they can play with the big boys and more importantly, they have showed they are refusing to sit and let them be rolled over. All this is good, yes! But the team still needs a plan B to fall back on should the original plan not come good, point in case being their friendly match Singapore, yesterday.

India enjoyed the kind of possession that their new brand of football now allows them, but there was no cutting edge in front of goal. Wim Koevermans’ men struggled to keep hold of the ball in spite of pressing the hosts to defend for large parts of the game and that cost the team big time.

Singapore were able to score twice, either side of Half-Time and India failed to recover from the double jolt. The Indian coach, Koevermans reflected on the loss, “We had a lot of possession in their half and had a lot of chances,” he said. “But after that, strangely enough, we started losing the ball which brought them back into the game.”

“All of a sudden they started playing more in our half. We struggled to keep the ball, and also we gave away the goal, which is not something we wanted, of course,” the Dutchman admitted.

This is when a change from the tactics being used could’ve served well for India. With Singapore on the ascendency in the game, a more conservative approach, or a counter-attacking one could have brought India back into the game. But India stuck to their normal game, in search of the elusive goal; they conceded another and the game was well out of reach after that.

Koevermans’ did make the last throw of the dice by introducing Robin Singh, Joachim Abranches, Jewel Raja and Anthony Pereira. Only Singh’s change gave India another dimension in attack – adding more height and strength, but the rest were changes that offered India nothing different – a winger for a winger, mid for a mid, etc.

India’s main strength in the match was their wing-play and of course their ability to pass well, but they were let down by their defence, with two needless lapses in concentration proving costly for the visitors. The display still gave Indians a reason to smile as the 2-0 scoreline only exaggerated the hosts’ dominance; India did trouble the higher ranked team. But with a better approach, India could well have come out with more positives from the game. The downside was India’s inability to change their game and try to cause problems with a different approach – especially when the game was screaming for one.

This was the Blue Tigers’ first real test and to expect the team to come out comfortable victors, to expect Koevermans to make big changes in such a short span or to judge the coach’s credentials on this loss would be unrealistic and that is not what this article is intended for. India’s play was not disappointing but here’s hoping they learn from the loss, come out more determined and more importantly, show that they are not only about passing the ball about well and keeping possession, but a whole lot more.