AFC Asian Cup 2019: 3 Reasons why India lost to Bahrain

#2 India lost the ball too many times which allowed Bahrain to dominate

India couldn't control the ball for more than 15 seconds

From the very first minute, India had no intention of controlling the ball. They attacked on counters quite a few times in the first half, but then again lost the ball cheaply to their opponents. It allowed Bahrain to take control of the match.

Never in this tournament had India had more ball possession than their opponent. They had 32 percent against Thailand, 35 percent against UAE and got it better by five percent against Bahrain.

It’s true that the result of the matches doesn’t depend on ball possession entirely, but teams get an upper hand while controlling the ball on their feet.

That is what happened with Bahrain. Indian players did not even keep the ball for more than 15 seconds. Bahrain was more confident when they had the ball and plenty of miss passes from the Indian players only made their job easier.

The Indian defenders were also pressurized because of this. Bahrain had only one motto, to win the game.

For that, whenever they had the ball, the tried to make use of it. They made forward passes, ran down the flank, crossed to it forwards.

Bahrain’s never-say-die attitude ultimately proved successful as they got the penalty in crucial time.