India humiliated Thailand 4-1 in their opening Group A encounter of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup at the Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi. This win takes the Blue Tigers to the top of the table, ahead of the hosts UAE and their gulf neighbors Bahrain.
Stephen Constantine fielded his men in a 4-5-1 formation with Sunil Chhetri the lone man up front. Ashique Kuruniyan and Udanta Singh took the charges in the left and the right wing respectively and, Halicharan Narzary, Anirudh Thapa, and Pronay Halder comprised the middle three. The back four had the familiar Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Anas Edathodika, and Subhasish Bose with Bengaluru FC’s Gurpreet Singh Sandhu guarding India from between the sticks.
Ashique Kuruniyan started out promisingly for India in the opening minutes as the Thai defenders found his marauding runs and curling crosses difficult to handle. The War Elephants’ Chanathip Songkrasin troubled the Indian midfield a lot with his dribbling skills and Pronay Halder had to do the dirty work of fouling him in the middle of the park.
Thailand slowly and steadily grew into the game and India were put on the backfoot. However, India capitalized on the acres of space left behind by the Thailand defenders and pounced on the counter. In one such move, Sunil Chhetri took a quick throw-in and Ashique dribbled past a couple of defenders to be one-on-one with the rival goalkeeper. His shot was blocked but, the rebound hit a Thai defender’s hand and a penalty was awarded to India.
Sunil Chhetri showed no signs of nervousness as he sent the goalkeeper the wrong way and bulged the ball into the bottom left corner in the 27th minute. However, the joy was short lived as Teerasil Dangda headed in the ball into the back of the net from a wonderfully taken corner kick six minutes later. Both the teams had chances to double their lead in the first half but the scoreline remained 1-1.
The referee’s second-half whistle sounded like a piece of music to the Indian supporters as Sunil Chhetri put India back ahead within 60 seconds. Sunil Chhetri spotted Udanta’s run down the right wing who in turn laid it off for Ashique Kuruniyan. The 21-year-old dummied the ball towards India’s talisman who netted in his shot with aplomb.
From then on, it was all India as Thailand were second best in every possible department. Sunil Chhetri was again the architect of the third goal as he spotted Udanta’s run in the center of the park. The 22-year-old only had the goalkeeper to beat but he fumbled his lines and passed the ball towards Anirudh Thapa instead. The Chennaiyin FC midfielder made no mistake in smothering the ball in the back of the net.
Stephen Constantine made a double substitution for the Blue Tigers in the 77th minute as he brought in Rowllin Borges and Jeje Lalpekhlua in place of Ashique Kuruniyan and Anirudh Thapa. The substitutes’ reposed the coach’s faith three minutes later as their combination gave India a three-goal cushion. Borges intercepted a Thai midfielder’s mispass and laid it off for Jeje. The Mizo Sniper, toe-poked the ball, above the head of the goalkeeper to hit the final nail in Thailand’s coffin.
The scoreline ended 4-1 in India’s favor who will lock horns with the hosts, United Arab Emirates, on 10th January. The Sportsindiashow team wishes the Blue Tigers best of luck in their upcoming match.
Here is Sunil Chhetri leading the fans for a Viking claps post-match celebration:
Nothing beats postmatch celebrations with the fans 👏🇮🇳! #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/JFbAxuHKTS
— #AsianCup2019 (@afcasiancup) January 6, 2019
