Khalid Jamil suffered his first defeat as India's head coach as defending champions Iran defeated the Blue Tigers in convincing fashion by 0-3 in the CAFA Nations Cup on Monday. This was both the teams' second group stage clash and it was Iran who eventually emerged victorious.
The Indian defence gave a strong performance in the first half, denying the Iranian attackers from getting onto the scoresheet. Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and captain Sandesh Jhingan gave top performances and kept the score at 0-0. However, Iran would end up breaking the deadlock in the 60th minute through Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh. It was safe to say that they deserved this as they had been all over India in the first half as well.
Iran scored 2 goals in quick succession
Iran, who are ranked 20th in the world then turned on the heat in the final few minutes and ended up scoring two more goals in the last seven minutes. The second goal of the match was slotted home by Ali Alipourghara in the 89th minute and Inter Milan forward Mehdi Taremi added a third in the sixth minute of stoppage time. These goals saw India suffer their first defeat of the tournament.
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This defeat will be quite painful for the Indian team as it ends most of their chances of reaching the final of the tournament, but they can still make it to the third-place match if they put in a good performance in their final group stage match against Afghanistan which is scheduled to be contested on September 4.
Notably, the top teams from Group A and Group B will play each other in the final, while the two second-placed teams will face off in the third-place match. Both the matches are scheduled to be played on September 8.
Earlier, Jamil had started his tenure as India's head coach on a high as the Blue Tigers had defeated Tajikistan in their first match of the tournament by 2-1. This was their first victory on Tajik soil in 17 years and their first away win in almost two years. However, Jhingan & Co. were handed a reality check in their very next game by Iran, who are likely to make it to the final of the competition. It remains to be seen if India manage to clinch a victory in their upcoming match against Afghanistan.