Believed we had a chance against Australia: India assistant coach Trevor Sinclair

India’s assistant coach Trevor Sinclair said they believed they had a chance against Australia. The Blue Tigers suffered a 2-0 loss against the Socceroos in their opening Group B clash at the AFC Asian Cup. India came up with a resilient performance in the first half as they were able to keep the opposition at bay.

However, Australia were able to get themselves in front as Jackson Irvine and Jordan Bos scored in the 50th and 73rd minute respectively to give their team a 2-0 lead.

Australia dominated the contest as they had 71% possession and took a total of 28 shots on goal as compared to India’s four attempts.

Sinclair said the mood in the Indian camp is positive and they will look to bounce back strongly in the next game.

“The mood is positive (in the camp). We want to win every game. We went into that game believing we could make an upset. The preparation, the work that the boys have put in, the team spirit that’s built over the last 14 days and even before I even joined this group of players, you could see it was evident. Really good habits in training and work ethic among this group of players. The spirit is good, but it’s disappointing (losing to Australia) because we want to win football matches,” Sinclair told the ISL Media team.

The former Manchester City player said they had the belief to win against Australia but could not execute their plans.

“We believed we had a chance (to get something from the game). We got to half-time (goalless). The belief was there. Probably, a little bit of fatigue hurt us a little bit and the lack of quality at times in possession. They’re honest boys. They admit they could be better in possession. The fact that we didn’t keep the ball better and that we know we had to keep the ball better. It’s a little bit of both (along with the quality of) Australian players,” the former Manchester City FC player said.

He further said: “They’re coming from top leagues around Europe and the intensity (of their game) and presses are a lot more intense. We struggled a little at times to keep the ball. We want to make improvements to that. It’s a fantastic experience for the boys playing against a group of professionals that play at that level. And it can only benefit us in the future. Hopefully, we can learn and improve quickly from that.”

Showering praise on the team’s defense, Sinclair said, “I thought they defended superbly well. It’s unkind to pick individuals out, but as a team, we defended those set pieces. From Sunil (Chhetri) all the way back to the goalkeeper (Gurpreet Singh Sandhu) and I thought they were exceptional. We got to make sure we got clear objectives on what we want to do defensively. Make sure we understand our roles and responsibilities moving forward as well and make sure the boys are confident when we go out there. They’re going out there to represent India and they’ve got pride in doing that. They made the fans proud with what they are achieving on the pitch.”

India will next take on Uzbekistan at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on Thursday in their second match of the tournament.