Brazil beat India 4-0 in a friendly match at the Salt Lake Stadium on Saturday. Coach Khalid Jamil said, “I think two or three were soft goals, individual errors.” India struggled with defensive lapses and many mistakes throughout the game. Jamil felt the players did not believe in themselves enough.
Soft goals, individual errors and many mistakes cost us: Khalid
KOLATA: All the pre-match talk was about the huge gulf between the two teams; one that has played every edition of the FIFA World Cup, won five, and even though they are now far from their best, still ranked sixth in the world. India’s rankings in football have been an embarrassment. At last count, it was 137. Everyone wondered at the mismatch. In Brazil, particularly, the ridicule was evident. “If you don't win 20x0 ag-ainst that nonexistent Indian squad, you might as well not even come back to Brazil -- just stay there,” one fan posted on X. When the match kicked off, another one remarked, “20 minutes and you can’t even score against India.” Without moving out of second gear, Brazil eventually won the friendly 4-0 at the Salt Lake Stadium here on Saturday, but coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted it wasn’t easy at the start. “We had difficulty in opening the score, but the moment Estevao scored, we had more opportunities,” said Ancelotti. “We felt good (playing in India). It was a good experience. India played their part, tried to defend, played counterattack.
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It was a positive game.” Three of India’s four goals could have been avoided. There were defensive lapses, too, both individual and as a team, prompting coach Khalid Jamil to replace goalkeeper and captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu at half time. “I think two or three were soft goals, individual errors,” said Jamil. “Many mistakes. We made a lot of substitutions, tried everyone, but they were not up to the mark. Maybe they didn’t believe in themselves.”