Asian Games Football : India 0-5 Japan

Indian Junior team lost to Japan 0-5 today in the Asian Games 2010 quarter finals .

The Indian U23 team came into the game as clear underdogs facing against the mighty Asian powerhouse “Japan”. India U23 teams first choice goalkeeper Kuttimani was not available for the game and the team had to do with their reserve goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

The game started in a good tempo as both teams had an equal share of the ball. But the fairytale story managed to last for first quarter only until Japan started to show their class. Indian team was deprived of any ball possession for quite a few time and if they somehow did manage to get the ball, they could hardly put a foot forward before 2 to 3 Japanese players snatched the ball from them. The game’s first goal came from Japan when Nagai scored for them with just 18 minutes on the clock. That goal was followed by another goal on 28th minutes. The Japanese players were firing in all cylinders and the Indian team were forced back to their own half. Though the team defended well but ultimately allowed the 3rd goal to go in through a beautiful strike from Yamanura.

Gurpreet Singh was found guilty a couple of times in the first half. He seemed to have a lack of communication with his defenders. His reflexes were very poor. Only Jewel Sheikh and Jibon Singh looked good in the middle along with Ravanan in the defence. The strikers were ill fed.

Japan went on with the second half from where they left off their first half, dominating possession right from the word go. It was the same Nagai who scored the 4th goal for Japan with just 51 minutes on the clock. The scoreline shortly read 5-0 for Japan after another goal went past the off-colored Indian custodian. Indian fans might have feared the match was going to the same scoreline which was seen with the senior sides match against Kuwait. But, for the sake of the fans the team slowly picked up their gear and started to reform as a unit. They made some good passes and some quality moves were made but the Japanese defenders were rock solid to held on to the score. The match ended with the score 5-0 to Japan as they cruised to the quarter finals of this years Asian games.

One might think that, if Arindam Bhattacharya would have been allowed to go with the present squad, it would have been much more fruitful experience for the team. He is not being allowed to play a single match with the present Indian team despite the team playing a whole bunch of friendlies and this tournament would have experienced some good match time.

The Indian teams performance was not up to the mark as one might have expected but the team showed some courage in front of the Asian giants. They will go back to India with a few positives. Indian Football fans will be hoping to see some of these players making it to the currently dismal looking Senior team.