India’s drama-filled appearance at the Asian Games came to an end at the round-of-16 stage after a comprehensive 2-0 loss to Saudi Arabia. A brace from Mohammed Marran was too much of a hurdle for India to clamber over.

The first half ended 0-0, but with Saudi Arabia having completely dominated the half. The pattern of the game was set early on when lying in two banks of four deep in their own half, India encouraged pot shots from distance. This was a dangerous ploy against a side of the technical excellence of Saudi, and Musab Al Juwayr smacked Dheeraj Singh’s crossbar mid-way through to drive home the point. They kept taking shots, and the Indian defence took it in turns to throw themselves at the ball. They were physical and intense off the ball, leading to plenty of stoppages as they tried to stop Saudi Arabia from building up any momentum.

Saudi Arabia started the second half and in a six-minute period between the 51st and 57th minute, Marran made the tie a formality. Marran who is a teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo at Al Nassr, scored the kind of goals Ronaldo made his meat and drink over the course of his illustrious career. The first was a powerful header where he soared over Sana and Jhingan before thundering home at the near post. The second was a clever run that was neatly finished off by him rounding Dheeraj and passing it into an empty net. The celebrations at the end of the goals showed just how invested this Saudi team is in the Asian Games.

India tried to mount comebacks and effected multiple substitutions, but they never really troubled the Saudi defence. After a contentious start to the Games after the squad was finalized only four days before their first game and with the federation and the Indian Super League not seeing eye-to-eye this had created plenty of debate amongst Indian football fans.

With the makeshift nature of the squad, this was perhaps the most realistic outcome for Igor Stimac’s men.

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