The Indian football team’s winless streak this year continues as they played a 1-1 draw against the lower-ranked Malaysia at Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad.
Despite the Indian team’s lack of speed throughout Monday’s game, newly hired coach Manolo Marques will find some positives, particularly in the defence’s rock-solid play, aside from Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s howler that allowed the visitors the game’s lone goal.
Had it not been for Rahul Bheke’s ferocious header, India would have suffered yet another heartbreaking defeat.
Another positive take from last night’s game was that Marquez’s tactics finally worked with the combination of Brandon Fernandez and Lallianzuala Chhangte combining the defence.
This result has put them winless out of 11 games played in this calendar year of 2024; even they played Afghanisthan twice and Maurituis, who both are lower-ranking teams.
The 2024 year also saw the Indian team miss out on the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC Qualifers, where the team was clubbed with Qatar (46), Kuwait (135), and Afghanistan (151) and still the Indian side saw winning just one out of six games.
The year also saw the Indian football team’s most depressing 1-2 loss against Afghanistan in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers second round at home, which also cost the job of former Indian coach, Igor Stimac.
This match against Malaysia was also the first since Sunil Chettri retired, and it goes without saying that coach Manolo is still searching, with rookie Irfan Yadwad assigned to the task.
Despite the fact that the Chennaiyin striker demonstrated that he could be the answer, the Blue Tiger failed to display the speed necessary to establish a team that would be considered an Asian football powerhouse.
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