India fails to qualify for AFC Asian Cup

On a night where India showed plenty of promise, it had to swallow a bitter pill at the hands of Singapore at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Tuesday. The 2-1 defeat ended any hopes of a third successive AFC Asian Cup qualification.

India played its best football under Khalid Jamil in some time in a frantic start which was punctuated by Lallianzuala Chhangte’s outrageous opener.

India spurned multiple openings — including failing to convert multiple corners — before the visitor delivered two suckerpunches to knock out the home side. The defeat left India bottom of Group-C, with no wins in four matches against teams ranked lower than its world ranking of 134.

India should have been at least ahead by three goals before the 40-minute mark with Chhangte and Mahesh Naorem, who started as the No. 10, squandering chances.

India was relentless in its pressing and forcing Singapore back, which paid off in the 14th minute when Chhangte latched onto a loose pass inside his own half. With Singapore backing off him, Chhangte unleashed a thunderous hit from 30 yards out with his weaker foot.

As India let Singapore off the hook, the away side waited patiently for a lucky break, against a tiring Indian outfit, which came right before the interval. A botched clearance from Rahul Bheke fell kindly for Glenn Kweh, who set up Song Ui-Young to side-foot the ball past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu— a cruel blow for India to take into the break.

Despite the setback, India continued to press on in the second half while Singapore was happy to absorb the pressure, keen to use its pace to hurt India on the break.

Nikhil Prabhu, who had a superb game until then, handed it the initiative by losing possession inside Singapore’s half. Ui-Young doubled his tally when Shawal Anuar found the attacker on the end of a lighting break before the winger lashed past Gurpreet to make it a memorable night for the Lions.

The result: India 1 (Chhangte 14) lost to Singapore 2 (Ui-Young 44, 58).