Intercontinental Cup 2024: Goalscoring concerns and other talking points from India vs Mauritius

The Indian football team had a nightmare on the pitch.

As the beautiful game returned to the city of pearls after a long break, India were held to a goalless draw by Mauritius in their opening 2024 Intercontinental Cup clash. The Blue Tigers did not look in good shape and put up an unsatisfactory performance in front of more than 18,000 spectators. 

Although it was Manolo Marquez’s first game in charge of the national team, a little more was expected from the Spaniard and his boys. It was a tight game with not many chances being created by either side, but Mauritius deserved to be applauded for their outstanding efforts tonight.

Let us take a look at the talking points from the game.

Goalscoring woes continue for India

It hasn’t been an easy year for Indian Football and its fans. While on-the-field performances have gone from bad to worse, Sunil Chhetri‘s retirement has added more fuel to the fire.

The Blue Tigers managed to get just one shot on target out of nine attempts and there have been no signs of improvement. Chhetri continues to missed and it seems India’s goalscoring woes are going to continue for a very long time.

Mauritius hold their ground

The visitors put up a strong performance against the Blue Tigers. Mauritius did not make it feel like they are ranked 179th in the world. A special mention to the duo of Lindsay Rose and Dylan Collard who did everything in their power to neutralize the danger from India’s star-studded frontline.

The Les Dodos played as if they were on a mission and shocked everyone by holding a highly-ranked Indian team to a 0-0 draw away from home.

The Manolo Marquez era begins with a draw

India’s new head coach Manolo Marquez’s stint has started with a goalless draw against Mauritius. The head coach himself termed it to be ‘a boring game’ during the post-match press conference.

The players looked very out of sync and the lack of coordination between them was quite visible. Manolo has a lot of work to do and needs to turn all that ball possession into meaningful goals. However, he’ll take motivation from the fact that he has started his stint with a clean sheet.

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