Jordan beat India 2-0 in an international friendly on Saturday courtesy of goals from Abu Amarah and Abu Zrayaq.
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India lost 2-0 against Jordan in an international friendly at Qatar SC stadium on Saturday. Once again it was a lackluster performance from the Blue tigers as they failed to create any real goal-scoring opportunity. It was India’s third consecutive loss in an international match, the previous two were against Bahrain and Belarus in March. Igor Stimac deployed a defensive formation of 5-3-2 and the team looked clueless for most part of the game. The defence had a busy night, the midfield looked out of ideas while the forward’s never got the supply they would have desired for.
Stimac took charge of the Indian team in 2019 and two years are more than enough for a coach to understand the team and get them playing the style of football the wishe to. However, the Croatian still seems to be unsure about the best formation for the Indian team. India won the 2021 SAFF Cup with a 4-4-2 formation. The Blue Tigers didn’t have a great start to the championship, earning just a draw in the first two games against much lower ranked opponents Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. However, talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri’s heroics helped them get back to winning ways and India went on to lift the title for a record eighth time.
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Meanwhile Against Jordan in Doha, Stimac’s playing XI looked heavily defence-minded, with very little to offer while going forward. Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali and Subhashish Bose were the three centre-backs while Pritam Kotal was deployed at the right-back and Akash Mishra at the left-back position. Glan Martins sat in front of the back line with Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad given a slightly advanced attacking role. Manvir Singh and Chhetri were the two strikers. It’s fair to say Stimac’s game plan was poor.
When you are going with three centre-backs, there should have been two attack-minded wing-backs. But Kotal is a defence-minded full- back and doesn’t offer too much while going forward. There were hardly any quality moves created down the flanks for India. Meanwhile after the break, Stimac introduced Ashique Kuruniyan and Mohammad Yasir in place of Thapa and Manvir. The newcomers showed some intent, but Jordan defenders managed to thwart the danger.
In the 75th minute, Ahmed Salah brought down a long ball just outside India’s box with a neat touch before laying the ball for Amata to slam it home, past a diving Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. And then, in the dying minutes of the game, Mohammed Abu Zraiq doubled the lead for Jordan. The winger carried the ball from his own half to the edge of the Indian box before combining well with Abu Amara and then placing it perfectly past the keeper. India will return to Kolkata for the AFC Cup third round qualifiers in 10 days time while Jordan will take on Australia in another international friendly on June 1.
