HT Kick Off: Ready for a scrap

Dogged defending

Buoyed by a crowd of over 17,000 in the dish-like Hisor Central Stadium, Tajikistan threw everything at India but Jamil’s men held on to eke out a fantastic 2-1 win. In his first match as India coach, Jamil showed what can be expected on his watch. Which is: exactly what worked for him at Mumbai FC, Aizawl FC, NorthEast United and Jamshedpur FC.

The central midfielders will be shield the inner defence, wide forwards will protect full backs. The low block will be deployed, especially if India have managed to sneak a goal — they had two against the hosts by the 13th minute. India will be prepared to concede possession (it was 35% v Tajikistan, 23% v Iran, and 40% v Afghanistan) and space but expect a performance, a statement really, in battening down the hatches. Always. Iran had 14 corner-kicks, all confidently repelled by India.

Keeping shape when out of possession will require a lot of discipline. Against teams higher in the FIFA ranking — Tajikistan are 106, India 133 — a lot of physical battles will need to be won. And, for the most part, Jamil’s team will do both. Last Friday, it fetched a first competitive win since November 2023 and a first against a higher-ranked team after July 1, 2023, when India beat Lebanon on penalties.

I had spoken to Anwar Ali before the match against Tajikistan. It didn’t matter that some players had not any pre-season training because that is not what you think when you pull on the India shirt, he said. Proof came one day later. And through the next two match days.

Iran showed that the gulf in technique, composure and combination cannot be bridged by determined defending alone and yet till the 89th minute, the teams were separated by one goal. One that came after Jamil erred by removing a central midfielder (Danish Farooq) to bolster the backline. He made amends and replaced Singh but by then, Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh had scored. “This is as much of a learning curve for the players as it is for the coach,” Jamil told the-aiff.com.

Bravehearts

This is how India need to play and, known for his individual sessions with players, you can be sure Jamil will keep drilling it into the squad. Because it is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog that often decides outcomes. It was typically brave of Sandesh Jhingan to continue with a face injury against Iran but every player in the squad would have wanted to do the same.

All India Football Federation officials had justified changing Bob Houghton because of his team’s lack of style and early in his tenure, Igor Stimac had been told of the need to keep the ball. Fortunately for Jamil, he has been spared such nonsense.

The difficult part for Jamil will be working on composure in the front third. Muhammed Uvais hurrying the delivery against Iran, and wasting Naorem Mahesh’s defence-splitting pass, was an example of the absence of calm near the opposition goal. As were Vikram Partap Singh’s poor decisions in the 0-0 draw against Afghanistan. India tried to use Ashqiue Kuruniyan’s pace but could not find that ball behind the defence.

To win playing his way will need quick breakaways — it feels appropriate talking about counter-attacking football in the week England dished out a masterclass in that against Germany in 2001 — and so far, India have struggled to do that. Giving starts to Naorem and Jithin MS against Afghanistan showed Jamil isn’t about a risk-averse approach always. But against a team well below in FIFA rankings, India were terrible in their attempts to go forward. If Jamil can change that, the road to Saudi Arabia will be a lot smoother.

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