Australia 2 India 0

Saturday 13th January 2024 – The Asian Cup – Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Doha

There’s few fans of Australian football who could have walked away from the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium after seeing their side struggle to overcome a spirited and excitable Indian side with any confidence this was to be their tournament.  They are fortune to be in a very winnable group, made all the easier when Syria and Uzbekistan played out a scoreless draw later in the day, meaning a win in their next game against the Syrians would see them through.

Whilst the final score is all that matters in tournament football, a phrase invented by those coaches of sides well fancied but fail to initially deliver, the sheer dominance in every other meaningful stat tells a story of a side that simply can’t put the ballin the net.

The fans had turned out in their droves for the first game of the day, located at the furthest western point of the metropolitan city of Doha, but easily reachable at the final stop on the metro.  The Mall of Qatar, the biggest and most lavish of a highly competitive and constantly growing Mecca of retail and entertainment establishments.  With tens of thousands of Indian diaspora now calling Qatar home, it was a rare opportunity to see their national side play the global game.

It’s on a matter of time before Qatar follows fellow Emirates states of Dubai and Abu Dhabi and becomes a regular venue on the international cricket scene, but for now the Indian fans had to get behind the football team, and that they did in a game few expected them to get anything from.

The Ahmad Bin Ali is a magnificent stadium, a 45,032 capacity edifice.  “The stadium’s most striking feature is a glowing facade, comprised of patterns that characterise different aspects of the country: the importance of family, the beauty of the desert, the native lora and fauna, and local and international trade.” According to FIFA. And who are we to disagree?

The stadium is also discreetly air conditioned, a blessing even on a winter’s day when the pitch side temperature was hovering in the high 20’s.  The crowd, latter announced as a generous 35,253 was a real family affair.  One thing the tournament organisers had got right was the pricing, with tickets starting from just £6 for adults, and a top price for all group games, aside from the opening stadium, of £15. So plenty of youngsters were probably getting their first taste of international football and watching their country.  

English interest in the two squads was limited to the Australians, with the Indians picking all domestically based players.  Pick of the bunch was Harry Souttar, the Leicester City defender who has 10 goals in his 21 appearances so far, although Keanu Baccus (born 9 months after the release of the underrated, except perhaps by his Mum, The Devil’s Advocate).

My seat couldn’t have been closer to the action, although based on the wasteful play by the Australians in the first half it was a fairly dangerous spot, with balls flying all around us.  It was a hotspot for selfies though, with rarely a moment in the game where someone wasn’t posing in front of me for a picture.  

In the first half Australia win 14 corners.  I’m assuming that as an international side with a professional coaching set-up they will have had someone responsible for set-pieces.  I don’t think wishing the sack on anyone, but not one single one of those corners, or the half-dozen free-kicks around the box troubled in the Indian goal.  In fact the closest Australia came to scoring was from an over hit back pass that had the Indian keeper Sandhu struggling to reach it.  In keeping with the theme of the half, it went just wide.

With half-time approaching, an Indian player went down with an injury.  The referee beckoned for the physio and doctor to come on but the manager stopped them, recognising he wasn’t injured and he’d be down to ten men.  The player stayed down, the referee came over to the bench but was powerless to do anything about it.  Eventually, the player sheepishly got to their feet and play could continue.

Whatever Graham Arnold said at half-time had an although immediate effect as the Australians finally scored in the 50th minute when Jackson Irvine mishit his shot and it fooled Shindu.

Souttar almost added to his impressive international tally on the hour mark but his header was cleared off the line. Twelve minutes later Craig Goodwin win a free-kick on the left and before he could take it, he was replaced by Jordan Bos.  Ten seconds later, Bos converted McGree’s low ball to make it 2-0.

The peak screaming point for the Indian fans came in the 74th minute where another errant back pass wrong-footed Mat Ryan in the Australian goal but it lacked the pace to take it into the net.

You can only beat what’s in front of you and Australia did just that, although with some difficulty.  Possession only translates into goal with good players, good coaching and the combination of the two.  Onto game number two.