Highlights - India Go Down to Oman in FIFA World Cup Qualifying Campaign Opener

86’ India have come back strongly from that goal. They’re doing a little more with the ball, and passing it with intent. No reward though.

88’ Off a counter, Oman have a chance to grab all three points!! Al Ghassani runs down the right and is played in. He takes a shot into the bottom corner but Jhingan is there to block it away. That was two on one for the longest while, with Gurpreet basically praying for help. And Jhingan showed up with a flying block.

89’ Al Ghassani has another pop. But he drags it wide from just outside the box.

89’ On the 86th minute we said India have come back hard. They haven’t. They’ve gone and lost this game. It was a stunning second from a substitute who came on only ten minutes back. Al Mandhar runs into the box from the left, he drops a shoulder and shrugs Jhingan away. With the ball on his right foot, he still has a lot to do, but he rifles it into the top corner. He has two, Oman have two. India have been played with.

If games finished at the 80th minute mark, India would’ve had all the points today. They’d also have reached the knockouts of the Asian Cup earlier this year. But football games are 90 minutes long. And India have played out their opening qualifier and lost out. That’s a tough break. And there is Qatar to come.

FT: Despite leading for most of the match courtesy of @chetrisunil11's 24th-minute strike, a late brace by Al-Mandhar hands India a defeat in their opening match of the #WCQ. ?? 1-2 ??#INDOMA ⚔ #BackTheBlue ? #IndianFootball ⚽ #BlueTigers ? pic.twitter.com/JR0n4D6aUJ

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) September 5, 2019

We said it when the game started. We’ve been saying it for the past 10 years or more. Very little has changed with Indian football. Today, Igor Stimac’s side did all they could to play the tight tactical lanes and the close marking game needed to stifle the Omani for space. For 80 minutes, it worked. But, cliche alert, it is a game of 90 minutes. 

There are a ton of positives, of course. It was a far more composed performance in midfield and defence from India. Stimac and his team seem to have coached the instinct to make the final tackle out of his central defenders. No penalty was conceded. But, the lack of game time, the fact that this is an off-season game for India, and the lack of this sort of competition every week is the difference. As it has been for ever and ever. Amen. Back to work in progress mode. And it’s off to the juice bar for us. Thank you for logging in to this live blog. We will be back with a full-length review of the game tomorrow and then for the next qualifier at Qatar on September 10. See you then.