Manolo Marquez refuses to single out players after India's crushing loss to Hong Kong

Manolo Marquez’s India succumbed to yet another loss.

Manolo Marquez’s India suffered a disappointing 1-0 loss to Hong Kong in their second AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier clash at the Kai Tak Sports Park stadium on Tuesday (10 June, 2025). The Blue Tigers conceded a late penalty in added time to go down to their second straight loss in as many competitive matches and just have one point from their first two Asian Cup qualifiers.

Manolo Marquez rued India’s missed chances resulting in the loss, as he told the media after the game: “A typical case you’d lose because you are in a bad moment with results. Our best chance was for Ashique Kuruniyan in the first half, and then a bad action in injury time resulted in a clear penalty for them.

“It’s an easy game to speak about. Two teams were fighting, and without too many chances, both teams defended with order, and one unfortunate action resulted in a loss. This is football. I feel a fair score would’ve been a draw, or if we had converted our clear chances, then let’s see. The team that scored first in these games make it very important,” he added.

On India’s chances of qualifying for the Asian Cup 2027

When asked about if he feels that India’s chances of qualifying for the 2027 Asian Cup are now under severe threat, Marquez explained:  “It’s not the moment to think about this. We are sad, the dressing room was like a funeral. They know that we are not in a good moment in terms of scoring; it’s difficult for us to score. It’s true that the team played in a more ordered fashion, but we couldn’t get any points here.

“We lost at least one point in the last action, and Hong Kong got three points. I told the dressing room that we obviously we want to win matches, but sometimes the team doesn’t know how to play out a draw. Today, if you couldn’t win before the 90th minute, at least try to be in a position to avoid the loss. I feel that India are still in the fight for the qualification process,” he also claimed.

On India’s goal-scoring issues

India have now failed to score a goal in their last three competitive matches. Speaking about his side’s goalscoring issues plaguing him, the Spanish gaffer stated: “Sometimes you never know how. This is not a problem of the national team, but also at the club. Sometimes you don’t score for 4-5 games, and suddenly you score 3-4 goals. I am in a team that is scoring all the games in the championship (ISL) except the last game. We scored in 23 consecutive games!

“Here, we are in the opposite part at this moment. We spoke about this a lot, to have more Indian strikers. But this is what is at this moment. I cannot say anything negative about the players, it’s the opposite. Their effort was there, attitude was there, but sometimes I felt we could’ve done better with the ball. The players are a bit nervous, in some action,s when passes are clear, we get nervous,” he finished with.

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