India vs Singapore: Failing experiments, scoring woes and other talking points

India have been knocked out of the AFC Asian Cup contention following the loss.

India saw their dreams of qualifying for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup destroyed after suffering a 2-1 loss to Singapore at the Fatorda Stadium, Goa, on Tuesday (14 October 2025).

Despite going in front in the first half through Lallianzuala Chhangte’s wonder strike, the visitors bounced back as Song Ui-young scored a brace to help his side get all three points.

Even though the Indian Football Team dominated a major chunk of possession and played some promising football, they failed to get anything out of this game.

It was a disappointing first home match for Khalid Jamil as the India head coach, and he’s now been left with a lot of factors to worry about after seeing his side’s AFC Asian Cup qualifiers dreams ended. Here are the talking points from India’s gutting loss to Singapore.

5. Naorem Mahesh Singh’s experiment fails for Khalid Jamil

Khalid Jamil opted to make a few tweaks to his frontline options for the Singapore game, as he swapped out Farukh Choudhary to play Naorem Mahesh Singh behind Sunil Chhetri.

Mahesh played in a similar role to what he did for East Bengal in the Durand Cup earlier this year, but he couldn’t seem to bring the same kind of intensity to the fray against the Singapore players. Mahesh was often too safe with his passing and couldn’t really make the driving forward runs that he normally does.

He failed to create any noteworthy chances for the Blue Tigers, with his final third delivery not being the most convincing. Moreover, the East Bengal captain also missed a big scoring chance in the second half to help the Blue Tigers consolidate on their lead and seemed to flutter out after the half-hour mark.

He ended up being substituted in the second half after a frustrating performance, which could make many wonder why Jamil didn’t use the genuine creativity of Brandon Fernandes or the proactiveness of Sahal Abdul Samad to pack a stronger punch against the Lions.

4. Old-school wingers’ style way to go forward for India?

There were a few positives from this result for the Blue Tigers, but the performances of their wide players were promising, one encouraging factor. Chhangte, for one, lit up the Fatorda Stadium with a sensational right-footed shot into the top corner to prove his goal-scoring qualities.

What was a really fascinating factor about the India set-up for this game was how Khalid Jamil opted to surprise his opponents by going with a more old-school style, where Liston Colaco was played on the right wing and Chhangte on the left. Despite them being switched to the opposite sides of their natural wings, it actually helped bring more directness to India’s attacking style.

Especially in the first half, Liston and Chhangte played a key role in driving their side forward with speedy forward runs and created some nice chances with their delivery too. India looked to be more refreshing with their attacking moves with Chhangte on the left and Liston on the right, despite the rather old-school vibe to it. Perhaps this style is the way to go for the Blue Tigers to be a more entertaining team to watch under Jamil.

3. Finishing issues come back to haunt India once again

It was a similar story of frustration for the Blue Tigers against Singapore as it has been for many matches over the last few years. Khalid Jamil was at least able to set his side up well enough for them to take the fight to the Lions and create quite a few good chances from promising positions.

However, the final product just wasn’t there on the night for the Blue Tigers. Their only goal came because of a truly special effort from Lallianzuala Chhange.

Apart from that, there were a lot of reasons for frustration for the Blue Tigers, mostly because of how inefficient the players were inside the box. Mahesh Singh missed a chance in the first half, while the forwards scuffed quite a few decent opportunities in the second half, too.

There were some quality passes and crosses sent into the box, but the Indian players were just not effective enough to finish them off. This resulted in another underwhelming loss, and India are likely to continue facing these heartbreaks unless their final product gets better.

Also Read: India vs Singapore Player Ratings: Chhangte wonder goal; Subhasish Bose, Rahul Bheke dreadful

2. Singapore capitalize on India’s transitional vulnerability

The Indian players seemed to be focused on an attacking style from the get-go against Singapore, knowing how important it was for them to get a win. That is why the Blue Tigers tried playing on the front foot as much as possible, but what that did was leave them vulnerable in their own half.

As a lot of players ventured forward, it resulted in Singapore getting way more genuine counter-attacking chances than they did in the last game. Even their equaliser, caused by a scramble in the box, was a transition move from Singapore that saw neither Nikhil Prabhu nor Lalengmawia Ralte able to drop back quickly enough to track the run of Song Ui-young.

The second goal from the Lions was a textbook counter-attack, as they capitalised on an error from Prabhu to venture forward in numbers before tricking defenders to score a goal.

Khalid Jamil needs to find a better balance on his side to ensure that his backline is properly protected from the transitions whenever he opts for an attacking style. Unless able to do bring more numbers back in the counter-attacks, other teams will continue troubling India on the transitions and hurt them.

1. Is it time for India to look past Sunil Chhetri?

Sunil Chhetri was chosen to lead the line for India in the game against Singapore, despite having a pretty poor performance in the reverse fixture. To his credit, the 40-year-old Bengaluru FC forward tried his best in getting involved in creating or finishing off chances way more than he did in Singapore.

Chhetri set up the chance for Mahesh Singh in the first half and even tried directing a few headers onto the goal in the second half.

However, that ruthlessness and inspirational aura seem to have withered away from Chhteri. He doesn’t seem to have that big a positive energy anymore, not being able to put away chances clinically enough and struggling to cover as much ground as he did in the past, mostly because of his age. Since his return from retirement, Chhetri has scored just one goal for India in five games.

The loss to Singapore showed that it’s probably time for the Indian football team to look for a sharper, speedy and more energetic forward to lead the line for them going forward. It’s high time that Chhetri is allowed to ride into the sunset after enjoying a brilliant career with the Blue Tigers.

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