AFC Asian Cup 2023: Brave Blue Tigers fight hard in narrow loss to Australia

The Indian football team kept a clean-sheet in the first-half.

Australia came alive in the second half to kick off their AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 with a 2-0 win over India on Saturday.

Having been frustrated in the opening period, goals from Jackson Irvine and Jordan Bos secured the points for an Australian side seeking to win the continental title for a second time. 

The match at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium with 35,253 fans in attendance had a historic touch as Yoshimi Yamashita became the first woman to referee an AFC Asian Cup match, with the Japanese assisted by her compatriots  Makoto Bozono and Naomi Teshirogi.

Australia started strongly, creating two chances in the opening minutes with Aziz Behich shooting wide after he was given time and space outside the box while Mitch Duke could not get his header on target from a Craig Goodwin free-kick.

Against the run of play, India could have taken the lead in the 16th minute after good work from Nikhil Poojary on the right flank created a crossing opportunity that found Sunil Chhetri unmarked but the 39-year-old attacker’s diving header went wide of the mark.

At the other end, a poor clearance by Gurpreet Singh five minutes later as he was being closed down by Duke saw Australia win the ball high up the pitch but the lanky Bengaluru FC goalkeeper recovered quickly to stop Connor Metcalfe’s goal-bound shot.

The Socceroos continued to be on the offensive for the rest of the half but were let down by poor finishing and resilient defending, failing to make their 11 corner kicks count.

Australia, however, only needed five minutes into the restart to find the breakthrough – albeit with a helping hand from Gurpreet who pushed a Martin Boyle cross straight to Irvine who calmly slotted home.

India had a half chance in the 69th minute when an innocuous challenge in the middle of the pitch saw the ball spinning behind Australian custodian Mathew Ryan, only for the ball to roll away.

India’s hopes were dashed four minutes later as 2015 AFC Asian Cup champions Australia doubled their lead with two substitutes working in tandem – Ryan McGree skipping past Subhasish Bose before laying the ball for Bos to tap in from close range.

Australia will play Syria next on Thursday while India will have to rebound against Uzbekistan.

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