After a five-star test on October 3, India faced a four-star test at the Salt Lake Stadium on Tuesday. Uruguay, ranked 20th ahead of the match, are in transition after a disastrous World Cup, but are four-time world champions (two World Cups and two pre-World Cup Olympic golds making up the four stars on their jerseys). Despite the 4-0 defeat to Brazil, the team had shown great spirit in the match.
The resultant confidence was evident at the start of the Uruguay game. India were the better team at the start and were unfortunate to concede a penalty. Nineteen-year-old centre-back Pramveer Singh was perhaps a touch over-eager. He made an earnest attempt to win the ball, but was deemed to have committed a foul. Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez stepped up and made no mistake from the spot, giving the visitors the lead in 11th minute.
India fought back and continued to create chances, but were missing quality and decisiveness in the final third. Ryan Williams brought both, getting past a man in midfield, driving with the ball and taking a decent shot from the edge of the box. It should have been dealt with by the keeper, but 30-year-old debutant Thiago Cardozo spilled it for Anirudh Thapa to finish calmly in the 22nd minute. Buoyed by the goal, India were looking the better team when play was halted by lighting.
It felt like the break came at the wrong time for The Blue Tigers. Indeed, they were caught out when the game restarted and Uruguay scored a beautifully worked goal in the 28th minute via a tap-in by Sporting Lisbon’s Maximiliano Araujo. India finished the first half strongly, but could not get level. Still, at the end of the first half, India had taken more shots and had more final third entries than Uruguay. It was without doubt the best half by India during this international window.
But, it all went wrong in the second half. Uruguay’s third goal was an unstoppable strike from the edge of the box that gave Gurpreet Singh Sandhu no chance. But, there seemed to have been a communications breakdown in the defence to allow Rodrigo Zalazar, another Sporting Lisbon player, the time and space to pick his spot. Uruguay’s fourth goal showed the gulf in quality, a perfectly timed run, a slide rule pass and a precise finish by Araujo once again left Gurpreet with no opportunity to make a save.
India kept asking questions, but the visitors had the answers. They scored the fifth from a counter attack and the sixth after some beautiful technical play on the right by former Manchester United duo Guillermo Varela and Facundo Pellistri was finished with panache by experienced striker Rodrigo Aguirre. It ended up being a tough night for Indian players who never lacked endeavour but looked physically and mentally exhausted by the end.
There are still positives to take from the match, but India will need to work on defensive communication and decision-making in the attack. Effectiveness from set pieces also needs to be improved ahead of two friendlies against New Zealand in November.
