Skip to main content
xYOU DESERVE INDEPENDENT, CRITICAL MEDIA. We want readers like you. Support independent critical media.

Curacao Beat India 3-1 at King’s Cup | Highlights

Curacao scored thrice (Leandro Bacuna, Rolieny Bonevacia and Elson Wuincy Hooi) while Indian football team got one back through Sunil Chhetri, all goals coming in the first half. Get highlights and analysis of the Curacao vs India King’s Cup football match in Buriram,Thailand, below.
Sahal Abdul Samad of Indian football team at the King's Cup

Debutant Sahal Abdul Samad was one of the positives for the Indian football team from their King's Cup match against Curacao. Get highlights and analysis of the Curacao vs India King’s Cup football match in Buriram,Thailand, below.

Curacao beat Indian football team 3-1 in their King's Cup match in Buriram, Thailand, on May 5. All the goals in the matches came in the first half with Curacao opening the scoring after taking control of the midfield. Curacao scored thrice in the match -- opening with Rolieny Bonevacia, before Leandro Bacuna made it 2-0, Sunil Chhetri got one back via a penalty for India, who conceded again with Elson Wuincy Hooi striking it past Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. (Get highlights and analysis of the Curacao vs India King’s Cup football match in Buriram,Thailand, below) 

Despite the result, India have a lot to look forward to for the future. Five debutants for starters, Sahal Abdul Samad the standout among them. The Kerala boy has a bright future for the team, based on his display. He has skill, the pace, and most of the will  necessary to succeed as a midfielder. Stimac’s reign is off to a start, even it is with a loss. It can only get better from here though. Onwards and upwards.

The four-team tournament’s format is pretty straight-forward with the winner of the opening round of matches advancing to the final. With the loss, India will either play hosts Thailand or Vietnam for the third place.

Watch our 420 Grams game review episode on Newsclick soon. Thanks for reading. Enjoy your Eidi. Spend it wisely

Live blog

Eid Mubarak

Good Afternoon! Eid Mubarak! If you aren’t eating biryani and kabab, then you better be watching this game. If you are eating biryani and kabab, this game will make it all better.

Igor Stimac’s first India XI is out:

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Subashish Bose; Pronay Halder, Sahal Abdul Samad; Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Lallianzuala Chhangte; Sunil Chhetri

Starting XI Prediction Game

So that’s that. If you caught our show -- shot before Stimac had announced his 23 man squad -- you would have seen us predict our starting XIs for this game. Arjun Pandit (Hi Insta fam fame!) has got it almost perfectly right. He didn’t see Subhashish starting on the left though. Between Siddhanth and Vaibhav they went too creative in midfield. Or less. Either way, Arjun knows best.

Anthems are on

Anthem time. Sunil has the arm band.

Bheke Debut

Bheke makes his debut in the centre of defence by the way. That’s quite a big call, despite the Bengaluru boy’s versatility.

- Vaibhav

Ugly Jersey, India

What a bad looking jersey man, reminds me of my college kit.

-- Arjun

#FakeNews Jibe

The stadium is sold out. The broadcast is erasing the fans. #FakeNews

Sahal, Brandon Look Good

I like Brandon in the middle, can be more versatile in the centre. Both Sahal and Brandon looking good, not feeling alien in a new environment. 

-- Arjun

Good Voice, Renedy

Good to hear our very own Mr 420 Grams Renedy Singh on the mic.

-- Arjun

Sahal Needs to Pace Himself: Renedy

Renedy Singh points out that Sahal needs to pace himself playing against Leandro Bakuna. Too much energy in the opening minutes can’t be good for the long haul. You can see why Renedy is coach material (and coach).

Bonevacia Goes Wide

12’ After some beautiful passing in midfield, Curacao open up India. Bonevacia finds a yard of space at the edge of the box, but drags it wide.

Sahal Looks Composed

13’ Everytime India get the ball, they play out quite nicely (Sahal looks very composed on the ball), but seem to give it away very easily. Some of the passes aren’t sticking.

Curacao Take Lead (1-0)

14’ Bonevacia scores, with Curacao’s first shot on target. Some brilliant build up play in the lead up to the goal. Bheke was caught ball watching, dragged himself out of position. Nepomucemo’s cut back from the right found Bonevacia in a lot of space yards from goal. No mistakes.

Invisible Chhangte

16’ Chhangte has barely had a look in. He’s in the shadows. Literally. He is on the shaded part of the pitch.

Hooi Strikes

19’ Quincy Hooi gets a second for Curacao. This was much simpler. Long ball from the back, and Hooi was played into acres of grass. He cuts Gurpreet with his first touch, but looks like he has dragged it too wide. From an acute angle though he puts the ball into the net. That was a good finish. India are in trouble. This isn’t looking good.

India's Missing Left

Both goals scored courtesy poor defensive positioning, Stimac will not be a happy man. Is India’s left wing even playing in the game?

-- Arjun

Curacao Take Control of Midfield

22’ A great graphic shows where most of the action has been this game. 85% in the middle of the park. 11% in Curacao’s third. 4% in India’s. But Curacao have been super efficient when they are in India’s third. Smart build up play in midfield, then the one-two punch.

Udanta Cross

23’ Udanta crosses one from the right. More a slash than a cross, but brilliantly placed. Unfortunately, Chhetri wasn’t expecting it to get that far.

India Slow in Midfield

The real problem for India is in the middle of the park and thus the open shots at India’s goal, Curacao finding too much space in between the lines.

-- Arjun

Get the latest reports & analysis with people's perspective on Protests, movements & deep analytical videos, discussions of the current affairs in your Telegram app. Subscribe to NewsClick's Telegram channel & get Real-Time updates on stories, as they get published on our website.

Subscribe Newsclick On Telegram

Latest