Highlights - India Beat Thailand 4-1, Begin AFC Asian Cup With a Bang

21’ A little bit of this a little bit of that. A little bit of ping pong. The game has fallen away a bit. Thailand edge the possession 52% to India’s 48%.

22’ Do floats a freekick from almost the same position Thapa had earlier. He does a far better job of it though, and a melee ensues. Somehow it goes out. Thailand have a corner.

Gurpreet has grown tremendously as a person, footballer and goalkeeper since he was pulled in to the national setup in 2010. However, his decision making when coming out in set piece situations is still a work in progress. Not sure if this had to do with the levels of confidence in the centre backs, communication, or just something to be worked on.

India win a penalty. Big moment in the match for Chhetri

27’ PENALTY!!! India have a penalty! A quick throw in by causes confusion in the Thai box. Theerathon handles the box off the goalkeeper’s save. Cheetri will take it and…..

27’ GOOOOOOOOOOAL! Chettri scores. Obviously. He slots it to the keepers’ right calmly. India have the lead. We are trying to stay as calm as Chettri did in the celebration.

Sunil Chhetri becomes India’s leading scorer — how many times have you heard this — at the AFC Asian Cup. His 3rd in the tournament and 66th international goal. Boomshkalaka.

31’ Thailand have to score now, and they come close. Thitipan hits one from outside the box again, and again he fails to test Gurpreet. This was a far better angle than the earlier effort and with no one closing him down he really should have kept it in the frame. At the very least.

Could not have asked for a better start here, India. It’s been pretty controlled. They’ve worked hard and a lucky penalty might be the little piece of good fortune that Indian football has needed for so many years. Many minutes of hard work to go, though. Chhetri will be critical in keeping this team together. Armband or not.

33’ Thailand have a freekick on their right. And quite rightly, they score. Gurpreet’s aforementioned decision making lets him down. He came out, flapped about and and Dangda scores. Chettri 1 Dangda 1. We are all even again.

35’ There is no bad result in this game, says Siddhanth Aney. India are struggling a bit now though.

37’ A long ball from the left by Nazary finds Kuruniyan who lays it off with his chest for Chhetri. It is an incredibly smart pass, but Chhetri is closed down. India have a corner….

38’ And nothing comes off it. Bootprom gathers on a second attempt.

39’ Thapa gets caught by a late Thai foot near the halfway line and the referee books Dechmitr. Seems right.

The potential chance off Narzary’s cross, Kuruniyan’s chest and potentially Chhetri’s boot is pretty reflective of one of the concerns that Stephen Constantine regularly brings up. Movement is impossible unless you’re all on the same page. And that only comes from time together + a basic common denominator.

42’ Chhetri catches a free ball outside the box and has a half volley to shoot with. But his balance is all wrong and it goes high and wide.

44’ India keep winning the ball back in their defence but awry passing is allowing the Thai to turnover possession.

One all. Won all. Have India won you over yet? India took the lead from who else but Sunil Chhetri in the 27th minute and then Thailand equalised via Teerasil Dangda in the 33rd minute. India look decent going forward but have the jitters in defence. By the end of the half Thailand had taken monopoly over the possession though.

Before Chhetri’s penalty he was tied at the top of India’s Asian Cup goalscoring charts with Inder Singh, who scored his two at the 1964 Asian Cup, when India finished second. The tournament was a league format competition at the time and Israel won it. Inder Singh’s two goals also won him the golden boot at the tournament. Although the concept didn’t actually exist at the time.

India have been rattled by that Thai equaliser. The final bits of that half, their midfield and their pressing game almost entirely disappeared from view. Here’s the song to help them out.