How India can stop being reliant on set-piece for goals for Bangladesh tie?

India will take on Bangladesh on 25th March, 2025, in Shillong.

The Indian Football Team got their 2025 underway in style with a 3-0 thrashing of the Maldives. This was an ideal way of preparing for the Blue Tigers, who were able to gain some much-needed momentum ahead of the start of their 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Bangladesh.

India might be flying high on confidence, but they cannot take the visitors for granted. The Bangladesh side are arguably a much more intimidating challenge than the Maldives and possesses some more experienced, quality players too. That includes the arrival of Sheffield United midfielder Hamza Choudhury to improve the midfield core of the Bengal Tigers.

Manolo Marquez’s side, for one, were quite reliant on set-pieces to put the Maldives to the sword. Two of their three goals came from set-pieces, with the third also coming from a cross.

India can’t rely on set-pieces or corners to help them get a clinical win over Bangladesh. There is a need to improve other aspects of the team, and here is how the Blue Tigers can look over being reliant on set-pieces to trouble the Bangladeshi side.

3. Implement one-touch football and quick passing

Even though the majority of India’s goals against the Maldives came from corners, the reality is that they produced some slick attacking football in open play too. Indeed, Marquez’s side moved the ball forward with intent, using a variety of different passing patterns to torment the visitors.

India need to approach the game against Bangladesh with a similar mentality, with the players needing to be brave and confident in moving the ball forward quickly. The players need to rely on using quick passes and one-touch football to fool the Bangladeshi players and disrupt their defensive structure.

If the midfielders and forwards can link up well with decisive passing and movement, they can trouble Bangladesh by creating more chances through the central channels and add a sense of unpredictability to their approach.

2. Push full-backs forward to open up room for wingers

In the game against Maldives, Marquez preferred to keep his full-backs mostly inside his own area, even though Valpuia made nice encouraging overlapping runs. However, if India are really to take the fight to the Bangladesh side, they’ll need to braver in pushing their wide players forward.

That includes the need to make the full-backs be more aggressive with their overlapping runs and smarter in getting behind the defensive line into promising positions in the final third. If the full-backs can start moving forward, that can also free up the wingers like Liston Colaco and Naorem Mahesh Singh away from the burden of flinging in crosses from wide areas.

The wingers can move into more central areas, camping up the Bangladeshi final third and causing their defenders to get confused on whom to mark. This could also help stretch their backline, which can open up space for the Indian forwards to pounce on and get more shots on target. The Blue Tigers need to push more players forward to significantly amplify their attacking threat, and they could let their midfielders stay behind to stop the fast breaks too.

1. Be decisive on the counter-attacks

With home advantage on their side, India are expected to be the more dominant side in their upcoming clash against Bangladesh. However, the Bengal Tigers are not going to simply park the bus in hopes of getting a result. They’ve been boosted by the arrival of Hamza Choudhury and will hope the Sheffield United man is a driving force to push them forward.

Bangladesh will look to take the fight to India, piling bodies forward to try and get goals and earn a positive result. That can also open up alleyways for the Indian players to start tormenting them on the breaks. The Blue Tigers should have plenty of chances on the counter-attacks, but it will all be for nothing unless they can finish them off. The Indian players were sloppy in converting from the fast breaks against Maldives and that mistake cannot be afforded again.

Sunil Chhetri & co need to be decisive in not just moving the ball into the box with fast-paced counter-attacks, but also finish them off clinically. If able to tap into their ruthlessness in terms of finishing off the counter-attacks, then India could really run riot over the Bangladesh side.

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