India Get Thrashed 2-5 by North Korea, Out of Intercontinental Cup Final Reckoning | Highlights

Hello hullo! Welcome to our live blog! Are feeling down because India is out? Are you feeling out because the sun is low? Are you alone on a Saturday night? Fear not we are here. And who are we? Live Bloggers!

The team sheet for India is out, and Igor Stimac is keeping up with his rotating ways. Only two players who started the previous game, are starting this. Don’t believe us? Sample this.

Amrinder Singh (GK), Subhasish Bose, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Sandesh Jhingan, Jobby Justin, Brandon Fernandes, Rowllin Borges, Pritam Kotal, Manvir Singh, Amarjit Singh, Sunil Chhetri (C)

Antae Song (GK), Kim Chol Bom, Jang Kuk Chol, Ri Yong Chol, Han Thae Hyok, Jong Il Gwan (C), Ri Un Il, Sim Hyon Jin, Hong Jin Song, Ri Un Chol, Ri Hyong Jin

With all the doom and gloom surrounding the state of the game currently, India really needs to win man, more so if they want to make the finals

While we are on the topic of win and lose, what about this kit? Have you guys warmed up to tigers stripes on blue yet?

-- Arjun Pandit

???#INDPRK ⚔ #BackTheBlue #HeroIC ? #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/b56gatrsPr

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 13, 2019

In case you were watching or are vaguely interested in the tennis, Simona Halep has absolutely destroyed Serena Williams to win Wimbledon. Throughout the past fortnight she’s been saying that the difference in her game now is that she is very ‘chilled’. That’s the secret guys. Stay chilled.

Nice to hear Sahal talk, seems like a guy if persisted with, can really open up on camera (selfish angle)

-- Arjun Pandit

Nice stat from Anant Tyagi: 28 changes made by Stimac during his tenure

Jobby Justin! All the best home boy, no pressure!

Nice to see Amrinder given a start, one guy who could be a regular in the starting eleven

Tajikistan beat India 4-2. Syria beat Korea 5-2. Tajikistan beat Syria 2-0. Make of that what you will. Football is a simple game.

Time for the anthems. Brace yourself. Oh wait. The Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju has stepped out for a quick hand shake. The stadium MC was caught a bit unaware there. She almost got the anthems going.

Love the Korea kit. Its old school. Has no frills. And does the job of, er, covering up the essentials.

Alright, alright, alright. Time to get rid of all the cobwebs in the head and get in the game. The good part, for the home side, is that there is almost never anything to lose. Big test for Amarinder, obviously.

-- Siddhanth Aney

Alright then. The formalities are done. And so is the toss. Korea won that. India will be kicking off from left to right in their royal blue with tiger scratches kit.

Readers of this blog, you may have noticed that your feed has suddenly fallen silent. That is because the commentators on broadcast have gone off for a quick break before kick off. No worries, though, because, from the next game on, we at 420 Grams will give you our very own game commentary. And the best part? We never take breaks. We are robots.

1’ India kick off, launch the ball ahead, and Manvir does some good hold up play. After a bit of pinging up and down, Manvir concedes a foul on India’s right. No trouble though, Korea waste it.

2’ Manvir runs down the right channel into a km of space, but turns around and passes it backwards. It is also intercepted by a Korean player.

3’ Korea’s high backline is incredibly positive, and maybe also a bit misguided. That’s too much space for, oh wait, Udanta hasn’t started. Sigh.

4’ India have ridden out Korea’s blistering start. They scored within three minutes against Syria. No danger of that today. Phew.

5’ Korea attack from their right, and a cross pings in, but cleared by Jhingan. The ball pings back in, but Subashish clears. This time he somewhat pushes into the Korean captain Jong Il Gwan, who dramatically falls in the box. No such luck. We get on.