Playing in front of a capacity home crowd as the second-highest ranked side, India was expected to have an easy start against USA but its road to an Olympic ticket got a lot tougher with a 0-1 loss on the opening day of the Olympic Qualifiers here on Saturday.
The team came into competition undefeated at this ground but the lack of experience and the pressure of performance with high stakes saw an erratic India falter. Numbers might say India dominated possession and shots at goal and lost by a solitary goal but on field, it was a disjointed team that made basic errors and could just not find a way past the USA defence.
India appeared unsettled all through the game. Instead of opening up space and spreading the field, the side kept trying to push through only from the middle and were strangely clueless and lethargic. Large parts of the ground were left vacant, the flanks were barely utilised and the forwards rarely fell back to defend or try to build up attacks, waiting instead inside the circle and even then often in the wrong position.
