Is India a ‘Sleeping Giant’ of Football? After losing with Australia 2-0 India in Asian Cup 2024.

13 January 2024

India plays its second consecutive Asian Cup, but this time they wake up the expectations of fans by showing their strength in first AFC Asian Cup 2024 match. Even they lost the match with 2-0, but their game play describes a different story this time.

Sunil Chhetri during a practice sassion in Doha to participate AFC Asian Cup 2024.

Raikot, Ludhiana:- The sleeping Giant of football is India. So many years we have coated India with this banner. The population of India is near about 1.4 billion but can’t give the best players in football. The question is that why India underrepresented in international football? There is only one sport-cricket, that’s why the country lags behind in football and every time struggling for qualifying in FIFA World Cup.

Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA optimistically anounced inthe year 2012 that India is the sleeping giant of football. The rank of India in international football is 102 and not even among the top 10 sides in Asia. India is still struggling to emerge from its slumber.

On the other hand Stephen Constantine, the former head coach of Indian men’s football team said to media house that India is nat a sleeping Giant in football. Indian football basked in glory in the year 1950 and 1960, win the gold in 1951 and 1962 Asian games and clinching a 4th place in 1956 Summer Olympics.

Indian football team every time showed big dreams as in 1984, 2011, and 2019 but the bubble of illusion never survives longer. During the last campaign in the year 2019, the team raised the fans expectations with 4-1 win over Thailand in the opening game, but losses against the UAE and Bahrain meant India missed qualifying for the next level once again and broke the hearts of football fans.

Coach Igor Stimac,The team India football men’s coach, under his cover, India faces a tricky campaign at the AFC Asian Cup 2024, where the team India grouped with teams with fine rank than India like Australia, Syria and Uzbekistan. Igor Stimac fearless approach attracted the fans but the coach clashed in controversy in November 2023 when he said that The Asian Cup is not an Important tournament. It created a big noise in media. Constantine , who is the coach of Indian team in 2002-2005 and then 2015-2019 was surpridsed at Igor Stimac’s reaction about Asian Cup and he said that this tournament is the biggest one that India is going to play.

The Sleeping Giant Looses by 2-0 against Australia

In this tournament, India is equipped with a great 26 members squad with highest goal scorer Sunil Chhetri, and include same potency of players the Igot stimac was worked with since taking over this charge. All players play India Super League (ISL) , the country’s top League. Indian football coach Pradhyum Reddy already declared that the road to results in Asian Cup is not so easy. He also added that Australia are seasoned opponents who have got their core group playing in Europe.

But the fearless coach Stimac worried nothing, and this time India plays on the front foot. So In the first battle, Indian players tried to press Australia and made life difficult for them. In the whole play, Indian players create problems for Australians. Reddy’s declarations about match was not find any fun in match gone wrong and Indian players showed their full strength.

The former player Darren Caldeira said ,” Its our best chance to improve scoring against Syria, 91st ranked and then Uzbekistan, 68th ranked. No one is talking about Uzbekistan but I personally think that they are rising powerhouse in centra Asia. Abdukodir Khusanov, a 19-year-old Uzbek de3fender plays for Ligue1 club lens in France.

Bad Luck for India in first match.

Recently India won three tournaments in 2023, including SAFF Championship in July which have 8 teams from south Asia. But most of the time Indian football team played against the team with lower rank to them. So how we expect our players shined up against weaker ranked opponents. We need to play more game with high ranked teams.

Asian Cup: Australia 2-0 India, Group B – as it happened | Australia | The Guardian

In the lead-up to the Asian Cup, India won three tournaments in 2023, including the SAFF Championship in July, which featured eight teams from South Asia.

If we left Kyrgyzstan, all opponent teams that India faced across the three tournaments are ranked below it. The major concern is that highlights India’s tendency to play against weaker-ranked opponents.

AFC Australia 2-0 India — Asian Cup Winner list.(AFC Asian Cup 2023: Will India, the ‘sleeping giant’ of football, wake up? | AFC Asian Cup | Al Jazeera)

No doubt, Indian team improved significantly in the last decade, but comparatively not good as other core group teams done like Thailand, Vietnam and Uzbekistan. We must learn from them. Japan and South Corea also did their best. So that our former coach Constantine blamed India’s slow progress on a lack of player development. He also told,” When i joined indian team as coach in 2002, i realised that there in no lack of talent but we aren’t looking for it in the right places. And when we did, we aren’t developing them. This is why India has not gone to the highest we imagined”.

Tragic Turn: Jadon Sancho Return to Borussia Dortmund 2024

11 January 2024

Jadon Sancho return to Old Trafford leave MU

Jadon Sancho returns to Borussia Dortmund on loan after destructive spell with Manchester United.

Jadon Sancho returns to Borussia Dortmund on loan after disastrous stint with Manchester United — Old Pic: Jadon sancho

The professional English footballer return to old Trafford from Bundesliga giants with a transfer fee of £73 million in July 2021 but he was failed to make an impact and a accidental clash with manager Erik ten Hag after lost his place in the team. The Manchester United also confirmed a loan move for star forward Jadon Malik Sancho on Thursday, January 11, 2024. German giants Borussia Dortmund re-signed the J.sancho on a six-month loan deal.

Who is Jadon Sancho?

An English professional footballer plays as a winger for Premier League club MU.

The English footballer Jadon Malik Sancho plays as a winger for Premier League club MU( Manchester United). previously he played with watford and Manchester City. J.Sancho signed his first big senior contract with Borussia Dortmund in the year 2017 and in his second session, he established himself as a first team regular was named in 2018-2019 Bundesliga Team of the session. Then after season 2019-20, Jadon malik Sancho pick his first trophy following the DFL supercup victory over Bayern Munich, and the scored two important gaols to help Dortmund win the 2021 DFB-Pokal final. Also J.sancho was runnerup in both Golden Boy and kopa trophy awards in 2019. J. sancho returned to England and sign for MU in 2021, winning EFL Cup in his 2nd season.

Jadon sancho: A bad time for him!

The 23 old London born Jadon Malik Sancho forward arrived at old Trafford in July 2021 for a transfer fee of £73 million. J.Sancho struggled to make any empact despite big expectations from him, but he never overcome from his bad time and always give low head to his fans. and this time one of the high-profile flop signings in EPL, English Premier League history.

Jadon Sancho’s recent face a clash with club manager Erik ten Hag and he saw him being frozen out of the very first game team. On the other hand, Sancho’s ‘answer to performance in training’ was well documented by English media.

clash with club manager

Club manager E.Hag dropped J.sancho from the team during the premier League game against Arsenal in sept. 2023. The dutch coach said that Jadon’s below expectations in training was the reason for the player’s exclusion. sancho hit back with unfair and scapegoat comments and reportedly refused to apologies for his remarks as well. Jadon Sancho’s name was on the top of the selling list in some European clubs, including Barcelona, showing interest once the winter transfer window opened on January 1. However, the Bundesliga heavyweights finally won the signature of their former star with no obligation to buy at the end of the season.

The MU statements about Jadon Sancho.

Manchester United said in the statement, “The 23-year-old spent four seasons with the Bundesliga team from 2017, scored 50 goals and 64 assists, before completing a transfer to Old Trafford in the summer 2021″. He has made 82 Reds appearances so far, scoring 12 goals across all the competitions and winning the Carabao Cup in 2023. Jadon Sancho will now return to Germany on a temporary basis as Borussia Dortmund prepare to resume their Bundesliga campaign after a winter break. The England international of 23 caps leaves with our best wishes for the remainder of the season.”

Football – Search News (bing.com)

We also give him best wishes and good luck for his future. Hope we all saw again the heroic play from his side. All the fans are just waiting to watch him in the field again. We always try our best to share every information about recent sports news.

Win For India: IND vs AFG 1st Match Result!

11 January 202411 January 2024

Good News comes for Indians as 6- wicket win for India over Afghanistan in first match in Three Matches series.

Afghanistan made 158/8 (20.0) and India made 159/4 (17.3)

Win for India : Score card

Rohit Sharma run out at ZERO by Ibrahim Zardan/Rahmanillah Gurbaz. He faced only 2 balls.

Shub,man Gill scored 23 in 12 balls with 5 fours. St. out by Rahmanullah Gurbaz bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Tilak Varma score 26 on 22 balls with 2 fours and 1 six. Catched by Gulbadin Naib bowled by Azmatullah Omarzai.

Shivam Dube scored 60 out of 40 balls with 5 fours and 2 sixes (not out).

Jitesh Sharma scored 31 on 20 balls with 5 fours. Catched by Ibrahim Zardan bowled by Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Rinku singh scored 16 runs on 9 balls with 2 fours (not Out).

Extras: 3(nb 0, wd 3, b 0, lb 0) IND 159/4 (17.3) vs AFG 158/5 (20) (Shivam Dube 60(40) Rinku Singh 16(9) ) | India vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I – Live Score, Commentary – Cricbuzz

Total 159/4 (17.3)

Win for India: AFG Performance in brief

Afghanistan Total 158/5 (20.0)

Major scorer for AFG are Mohammad Nabi 42, R. Gurbaz 23, Ibrahim Zardan 25, A. Omarzai 29.

Indian Bowlers did a great work. Mukesh kumar and axar patel have 2-2 wkts and Shivam Dube showed his bowling strenght by taking 1 wkt. While Arshdeep singh, W. Sundar and Ravi Bishnoi had a bad luck today.

Result : A win for India

Win for India : A foggy evenving

%India-Afghanistan T20I% (savreensports.com)

India take a 1-0 lead in three matches series. Nodoubt today’s match is not a easy one as weather conditions are hard for Indians.

Some Players Views

Shivam Dube is the Player of the match: Yes, It was really cold. really enjoyable time on this ground.Dube also added that he was here after a very long time but he did his job well for win for India. He told,” I had one thing in my mind that I have to play my game. First 2-3 balls, I feel a bit of pressure, after that I just focus on the ball and I don’t think much on what’s going on”.He also added on Bowling,” today I got the opportunity and I executed what I needed”.

Rohit Sharma did nothing to win for India: He said,” It was extremely cold weather. Now I am okay. When the ball hits the tip of the finger, it was sore. In the end, it was good. Lot of positives, we got a lot from this game, especially with the ball. Wasn’t the easiest of conditions. Our spinners bowled really well and the seamers also did the job as well. These things happen (on the run-out). When it happens you feel frustrated, you want to be out there and score runs for the team. Everything will not go your way. We won the game, that’s more important”.

Ibrahim Zadran said that We were short by 30-40 runs in our innings. Unfortunately we lost the toss but the boys fought till the end. We were trying to have a good start in the powerplay.

Rinku Singh told that he have got a habit of batting at 6 and finishing games.he is feeling very happy with his job. Enjoyed the cold conditions, it was tough while fielding though. he just try to talk to himself, batting at 6, he don’t have the chance to face too many balls or score too many runs, that’s the thing he keep telling himself. He also spoke to Dhoni and get a perfect suggestion as played according to ball and keep you calm and he just do the same thing. he don’t think a lot while batting, just react to the ball.

India chasing targets 160 or below in home T20Is
Instances 17
Matches won 16*
Matches lost 1 (vs NZ, Nagpur, 2016)

India-Afghanistan T20 Tie in PCA Mohali faces Fog and Due chellenge. Will India starts with a win?

10 January 2024

Afghanistan’s are used to harsher winter temperatures as they feel good at net practice. The first T20 International match between India and Afghanistan on 11th January at PCA stadium Mohali, Punjab. But the main problem is the weather conditions as in Punjab , the foggy mornings and evenings are major issues these days.

Due on the pitch

The Punjab cricket association (PCA) management is ready to tackle dew on the pitch. Head curator Rakesh Kumar said: “PCA has been hosting domestic matches in the winter but they are held during the day. Thankfully, the fog has lessened in the last two-three days. As far as dew is concerned, we will be using Aspa chemical on the ground from today to keep the dew away. It is a wetting agent and has been successfully used in the past.”

Low Temperature is also a big issue in India-Afghanistan T20

The cold wave could be a bigger problem for the Indian players, as the temperature is around 5-6 degree Celsius with heavy dew and it is a major issue for both sides. Not to forget, foggy conditions for the game to played under floodlights from 7pm. And it will be the first time that PCA is hosting T20 international under floodlights in the winter. But in the past they have been hosting Tests and domestic matches successfully under the lights. The Northen region of the country is under a cold wave spell with heavy foggy conditions which affected the normal life. fans must be brave to seated in open under such conditions.

Matches in hard conditions: India-Afghanistan T20

The second T20 will be played in Indore on January 14, 2024 and the last game in Bengaluru on January 17, 2024. PCA last hosted Afghanistan for practice match ahead of the 2016 T20 WC. A team with world class spinners they may have to bank more on seamers in these conditions. Same is also applied on Indian team also. Dew would make it difficult for bowlers as to grip the ball properly.

In the winter PCA Mohali pitch usually aids for fast bowlers with the moisture in the air. Rakesh also said,” As far as og is concerned, it is not in our control. But we have stopped irrigation (watering) process in the ground so that during the match there is no excess moisture on the ground,”. The Ranji trophy match played draw which is hosted in Chandigarh Sector16 stadium nearby to Mohali. The game was affected by bad lighting conditions. Usually, in peak winter in January, northern venues like Delhi, Mohali and Dharamsala don’t host night matches.

Rohit Sharma, and local lad Shubman Gill will be the players to watch, but Virat kohli will not play the match India-Afghanistan T20 and this news and the cold wave could prove a spoilsport for the fans.Microsoft Start Sports (msn.com)

This stadium hasted a semi final match in the 2011 ODI WC but did not get any game in the just ended world cup 2023. Jay Shah, BCCI secretary, was thus keen to give India games to Mohali and Indore, which also missed out on a World Cup game. However, it seems not much planning went into allotting the game considering the weather. The PCA recently renovated the Mohali stadium while construction of its second international stadium in Mullanpur is on in full swing. Rakesh added,” A team of 11 groundsmen are working hard to make the game India-Afghanistan T20 a success”.

Virat Kohli will not play in India-Afghanistan T20

As the news comes out on 10th january about the Kohli playing, all the fans looks down as their favorite player not a member of team India in the first match.