Asian Cup Qualifiers: Goal-shy India face uphill task in away fixture against Hong Kong
It's been a miserable 18 months for the Indian national football team and the cloud of gloom over the sport in the country has never felt darker than now ahead of the trip to Hong Kong for a 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualifier. In a group with Bangladesh, Singapore and their opponents on Tuesday, India desperately need a positive result after a 0-0 draw against Bangladesh in their opening fixture.
In the lead-up to the fixture, the main talking point has been the debate over allowing Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) to play for the country – a discourse that gains significant traction after every poor performance from the national team.
The last time India beat Hong Kong was a 4-0 win on a rainy Kolkata night in 2022. Since that match, also an Asian Cup qualifier, Hong Kong has inducted naturalised and foreign players from Brazil, Japan and Italy into their squad. In India's first match of Group C against Bangladesh, it was the addition of midfielder Hamza Chaudhary, a Leicester City player, that once again pointed to the challenges faced by this team management as it navigates these new Asian waters.
On paper, India may seem the stronger team but a feature of the last 18 months has been its inability to win against lower-ranked teams. The lack of wins can be attributed to the lack of open-play goals, or goals in general, with a mere five scored in the last seven games – only one of which came in a win against the Maldives.
It doesn't help that coach Ashley Westwood is at the helm for Hong Kong, and has helped the team go on its best run of form since 1985. Once in charge of Bengaluru FC and familiar with the ins and outs of Indian football, Westwood's peak came last year when he was coaching Afghanistan.
That country, with a negligible football tradition, scored two late goals in Guwahati, in Sunil Chhetri's 150th international game, to severely dent India's World Cup qualifying campaign.
Westwood's reign in Hong Kong has also been largely successful. Only one loss in their last 10 games; 20 goals scored and three conceded – the statistics show that it is a team on the up.
And yet the Englishman is not a favourite of everyone in China's special administrative region, especially after their last result. Hong Kong lost 1-3 to Manchester United in a friendly and then drew 0-0 against Nepal in a FIFA friendly. That stalemate prompted severe online criticism against Westwood, with fans accusing the manager of playing old and slow naturalised players instead of choosing younger local players, a complete opposite of the criticism levelled against the Indian set-up, which has seen a rising demand for OCI players and disillusionment with homegrown players.
India's last game, a two-goal loss to Thailand in a Bangkok friendly, came on the back of a three-week-long camp in Kolkata. When not put under pressure, India were able to hold their positions and play through the middle of the pitch – a style of play introduced under coach Manolo Marquez. They even fashioned a few chances but were characteristically poor in finishing.
Ahead of the Asian Cup qualifier, Marquez brushed aside the Thailand loss, saying that the match could have gone differently if India had capitalised on their chances. The Spaniard also played down any talk of poor morale in the squad.
'Our preparations have been much better this time, if we compare with the previous FIFA windows, where you practically don't have too much time,' Marquez said. 'The environment in the team is quite good as well. Obviously, in all teams across the world, the environment is better when you are winning games constantly. But the environment, the relationship between the players, regardless of the results, is very good.'
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