In what was expected to be a tough encounter for Sunil Chhetri’s men in Qatar, India fell to a 2-0 defeat by the hands of Australia in the AFC Asian Cup 2023 on Saturday.

Starting off on the right note, India came close on a few occasions and looked to apply pressure on the Aussies.

Sunil Chhetri’s diving header in the first half was the best chance India got in the match.

Australia took charge of the match a few moments later and piled on the pressure on the Indian defense. However, some heroic defending by Sandesh Jhingan denied the Socceroos to have a breakthrough in the game.

Blood and sweat. We gave it our all. But it wasn’t enough to get something from our #AsianCup2023 opener.

On to the next one in five days’ time 🇮🇳#AUSvIND ⚔️ #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/Cptx158KNp

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) January 13, 2024

However, the 2nd half turned in the Aussies favour as a mistake by goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu handed Australia their first goal of the day. The Australian side kept their attacking game on and soon got another goal courtesy of a brilliant build up play.

Injuries Hurting India

With Igor Stimac’s side missing their important players in the name of defender Anwar Ali, midfielders Jeakson Singh and Abdul Sahal Ahmed, the fearless attacking style of India was not clearly evident in the performance.

With the outcome of the match turning out to be expected, the Blue Tigers will be looking to get the best out of their remaining two matches against Syria and Uzbekistan respectively.

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