India went down 0-2 against Australia after putting up a brave fight in the defensive part of the AFC Asian Cup 2024. India was up against the world no.25 side in their first match of the ongoing AFC Asian Cup 2024. It could not get any tougher for the Indian team in the tournament. But they performed very well and gave a tough fight against a superior side.

India managed to contain Australia in the first half. the defensive unit led by Sandesh Jingan did well to restrict Australia from scoring goals. There were chances created by both sides in the first half, but none could be converted to goals. Towards the end of the first half, it seemed like India went to the break with a sigh of relief given their performance in the match till that point.

It also seemed like Australia lacked a bit of attack in the first half. Everything seemed to change in the second half. The world no.25 side came up with better intent and looked to score right from the word go. They were successful in scoring the first goal of the match, as Irvine managed to give Australia the much-required breakthrough in the match with a good strike in the 50th minute of the game.

Lack of attack costs India the game

India tried to stop Australia from scoring goals. In the second half, there were not many chances created by India. The only chance they got was not converted into a goal. The Indian captain Sunil Chhetri got a good opportunity to score, but he missed the goalpost by a whisker. Australia had better possession than India throughout the game but more so in the 2nd half.

In the 73rd minute of the game, Bos scored the 2nd goal of the match and all but sealed the game in favour of the dominant side. Australia managed to hold on to the lead till the end and ended up clinching the win. Indian fans were disappointed with the lack of attack. Australia did everything right in the encounter.

Here’s how the fans reacted to the match –

The mid was completely defensive/the whole game was defensive. Was good until the first goal.

Subbing deepak,mavir and subasish was needed earlier after that one goal..

— Deepak (@D135905) January 13, 2024

Upper body strength is something, we really need to work on.
Great effort by the team… One mistake and we lost the plot.
Proud of the team 🇮🇳🇮🇳

— Saikat Chatterjee (@Sakx_Chatt) January 13, 2024

I know Mr. Stimac had given up even before NT arrived in Doha and Asia Cup is just for experience & enjoyment but still we can’t keep playing forever like cowards against top teams if we want to achieve something big at the world level.

Tough I’ll still wait till Uzbekistan game

— Nexter (@Nexter21) January 13, 2024

Results would have been different if Ashique,Anwar, Sahal was available. Who knows we might have won

— Dwaipayan Das (@Dwaipay17426619) January 13, 2024

So disappointed yr…. Kitna defend krte rahoge … Kabhi to galtiya hongi hi… If u really want to bring revolution in Indian football then play attacking game and try to score some goals … Haat to waise bhi jaye h achi team se agr score kroge to confidence badega..👍

— Binny (@Binny00665544) January 13, 2024

Only seasonal or cricket fans would criticize our performance. Those who have proper knowledge will laud our performances today🤣🤣

— ARYAMAN SAXENA (@ErenChacha) January 13, 2024

2nd half curse 😭

— Satyam Borikar 🏏🏆 (@im_satyam45) January 13, 2024

There are no quality of players….far behind from mainstream football world

— Ajay Chakraborty (@JayChakrab86120) January 13, 2024

Needed better display from our wingers. We were defending through out 90 minutes obviously we would have conceded

— D (@DebayanLfc) January 13, 2024