The Indian men’s football team had another disappointing day in the SAFF Championship 2021 on Thursday as they were held to a goalless draw by Sri Lanka in their second match of the tournament. India failed to intimidate Sri Lanka much at any point in the match, while Sri Lanka’s defenders succeeded in their strategy of slowing down the game and stopping India in their box. With the draw, India now have just two points from two matches in the SAFF Championship 2021. This was Sri Lanka’s first point in the tournament so far in their three matches after losing to Bangladesh and Nepal.
India are currently ranked third in the table from where only the top two will advance to the final. Nepal are at the top of the table with six points from two matches while Bangladesh are second with four points from two matches.
Dubbed the ‘slowest match of the tournament’ by commentators, India struggled to make any chances of note. Igor Stimac’s men lacked creativity and fluidity as Sunil Chhetri has found himself isolated on several occasions.
India failed to take the game against Sri Lanka, a team 98 places below them in the FIFA rankings. The Indian players struggled to put together a few passes, while the Sri Lankan defenders did well to stop the opponents.
The team’s dismay was such that they were repeatedly fouling the Sri Lankan players and forcing the referee to stop the game.
In the 34th minute, Sri Lanka’s keeper Suzanne went down and was undergoing treatment while Sunil Chhetri was seen chatting with Liston Colaco and Anirudh Thapa. He looked angry and was trying to explain something to her.
Overall, it was half of the expected deliveries from India without any real service to their captain and talisman. There was a lack of coherence in his build-up play, which was evident in his further efforts.
Yasir Mohammed came in as a half-time substitute and looked good individually but India’s overall game didn’t improve much. India had two good chances in the 61st minute which they failed to convert. Liston on the left holds the ball for Mandar, who hits a cross in the middle towards Thapa but Chennaiyin FC Man fails to tap it. From the corner, Subhashish goes for a header but it is wide.
Substitute Farooq Choudhary hit the ball in the back of the net in the 71st minute but the referee whistled for a foul from Subhashish and did not score.
In the 89th minute, Subhasish Bose had a big chance for India to win it, but he blew the ball away at the distance of a handshake. The ATK Mohun Bagan defender had to tap Yasir on a deflected corner but could not put the finishing touches.
Eight minutes of stoppage time was given due to Sri Lanka’s time-wasting strategy but India could not make it count.
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