King's Cup, India vs Curacao, as it happened: Blue Tigers lose 1-3
The Blue Tigers have a tough task in hand against Curacao, the highest-ranked side in the tournament, who stand at 82 in the Fifa rankings.
New Indian football coach Igor Stimac faces his first big test as India take on Curacao in their King’s Cup opener in Buriram, Thailand on Wednesday.
The Blue Tigers, who are taking part in the tournament after a long gap of 38 years, have a tough task in hand against Curacao, the highest-ranked side in the tournament who currently stand at 82 in the Fifa World Rankings.
Read - Young, versatile, attack-minded: What Igor Stimac’s King’s Cup squad tells us about his philosophy
Thailand and Vietnam will take on each other later on in the day, and the winners of the two matches which qualify for the final - set to take place of June 8.
Sunil Chhetri: It was difficult. Conceding three goals early on was hard. We need to improve on a few things and we will go back to the drawing board.
90+4’ FULL TIME! What a turnaround it has been for India despite going down 1-3 to Curacao. There were plenty of positives to take for Stimac at the end of the final whistle and the substitutions after the break played a major part.
They were more compact as a unit while defending and also created chances but lacked in finishing.
The Blue Tigers will now face the losers of the match between Thailand and Vietnam for the third place on Saturday.
That’s all for now. Thanks for joining us.
90+2’ CLOOOOOSEEEE! Chhetri comes close to scoring but a poor one-two from Soosairaj sees Curacao concede a corner. The India captain takes the following corner and finds Jhinghan whose header takes a massive deflection.
90’ There will be four minutes of extra added time.
86’ OVER THE BAR! A lovely build up play ends up in a wasteful chance for the Blue Tigers. Udanta pings a cross from the right and Chhetri leaps high to pounce on it but watches his header sail over the post.
79’ OFF THE POST! Kotal collects the ball from the right and fires a cross inside the box which meets Chhetri. The India captain straight towards the keeper and Soosairaj is too late to take advantage on the follow through.
78’ SUBSTITUTION. Bacuna is done for the day as Shermaine Martina comes on to replace him.
70’ BIG CHANCE! Raynier picks out Sahal’s run inside the box but Bacuna closes him down to keep it out for a corner. Bheke heads it over the bar on the subsequent corner.
66’ SUBSTITUTION. Another international debut as Michael Soosairaj comes on for Brandon Fernandes.
62’ SAVED! Hooi, who has threatened the Indian defense all afternoon, finds space in the middle and unleashes a strong long ranger. Gurpreet stays on his feet and punches it away.
64’ The sun has completely disappeared and it’s pouring in Buriram.
56’ CHANCE! Sahal finds Udanta on the right. The Bengaluru wingers beats his marker, turns away and plays a great pass into the box which is cleared by a defender.
45’ SUBSTITUTION. Two changes for India as Raynier Fernandes and Amarjit Singh come on for Chhangte and Halder.
45’ HALF TIME! It has been a disastrous first half for India but also Stimac’s men will have many positives to take in the way they threatened the highly-rated Curacao defense. Can the Blue Tigers turn it around after the half-time break?
45+2’ GREAT BLOCK. A long ball is played out from the defence to Hooi, who is completely free on the left channel. Jhinghan arrives in time and thwarts danger with a great block as the winger tries to take a shot.
43’ SAVEEEEEE! India build up a great move from a lovely link up between Chhetri and Sahal. The ball eventually falls in Udanta’s way, who takes a shot with his weak foot but Room palms it away.
33’ GOOOOOOALLLL! Curacao double their advantage. Bacuna beats his marker and before Bose can close him down, he fires a shot from close range which is too good for Gurpreet.
30’ GOOOOOALLLLL AND IT’S GAME ON! Bose whips in a cross from the left and Curacao concede a penalty inside the box. Skipper Chhetri steps up and slots it calmly past keeper Room to make it 2-1.
18’ GOOOOOOALLLLLL! More misery for India as they push men bodies forward for an equaliser and there is a big gap in the defence. Hooi runs free on the left, rounds keeper Gurpreet before taking his time and slotting past Jhinghan from an acute angle.
14’ GOOOOOOOALLLL! Curacao draw first blood. Nepomuceno runs free on the right flank and squares up for Bonevacia, who hits a clean strike to open the scoring.
11’ CLOSE! Bonevacia wins the ball outside the box and fires a fierce shot from his right foot that misses the post by quite some distance. Warning signs for India.
5’ A long ball is played out by Brandon to Sahal, who charges upfront. The youngster loses his balance and misses the target by a distance.
1’ PEEP PEEP! It’s time for kick-off.
Sunil Chhetri adds another feather to his cap. He takes over Baichung Bhutia as India’s highest capped football player.
Time for the national anthems..
India line-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Sunil Chhetri leading the side. Brandon Fernandes, Rahul Bheke and Lallianzuala Chhangte are handed their senior team debuts.
Here is how both teams line-up for today:
The moment that all Indian football fans have been waiting for is finally here.