One error is all it takes.

Sixteen minutes into the Australia vs India match at the AFC Asian Cup 2023, there had been an uncharacteristic error.

It had started with Lallianzuala Chhangte on the left and went all the way to an overlapping Nikhil Poojary on the right via Sunil Chhetri, Lalengmawia Ralte, and Suresh Singh. Poojary flung it in, big Harry Souttar completely missed it, and Chhetri was in. Right place, right time as he’s been in for near two decades. But that trademark finish eluded him…maybe it was the element of surprise, maybe it was the late adjustment that Souttar missing would have necessitated, but this was one of those rare occasions when Chhetri, in an India shirt, made an error.

Fifty minutes in, there had been another uncharacteristic error. Martin Boyle pinged in a harmless looking cross from the right wing. With it soaring over Mitchell Duke’s head at the near post, there was no immediate danger to the Indian goal, but Gurpreet Singh Sandhu came flying out in between his center-backs and tried to palm it down.

We’ve seen Gurpreet do this before for club and country – come out, and if the ball is too high to hold, palm it down in the way you would to start a basketball dribble, and then hold on to it. Except this time, instead of palming it straight down he ended up parrying it to Jackson Irvine… who then calmly (and rather superbly) slotted his shot between keeper and the two defenders on the line behind him.

One error is all it takes: the margins that define success, and failure, at this level of football are just that tight. What it also underlined was the cost of an error on end of the field is not the same as an error at the other.

Chhetri’s miss served to boost India’s confidence, show them that there was potential to pull off a major upset. After all it had been, until then, the best move of the match from either side. Gurpreet’s deflated the team visibly. Shoulders slumped, heads dropped and the feeling you got in the first half – that India were in this game – was never found again.

That’s the nature of this business. Gurpreet knows that better than anyone, but that won’t make it easier. It’s a lonely gig, this goalkeeping shtick, but it’ll rarely feel lonelier than tonight for India’s number one. Because India had been holding Australia at bay with quiet ease until then.

Before Gurpreet’s error, Australia had done nothing of consequence in their attacking third. They had sent in cross after cross only for Gurpreet, Sandesh Jhingan, and Rahul Bheke to handle it confidently. They had had 13579 corners (12, actually) just in the first half and not one had resulted in a moment of panic in the Indian box. Deepak Tangri, making a blockbuster of debut, had a superb first half; mopping up in midfield, passing it along neatly, keeping the game ticking along. Apuia and Suresh Singh next to him rarely looked flustered.

Lallianzuala Chhangte had Australia on their toes every time he looked set to turn on the afterburners. Manvir Singh wasn’t as effective moving forward, but his aerial prowess in the box was important. Poojary and Subasish Bose were reserved but controlled their flanks to a reasonable degree for the most part. Up top, Chhetri didn’t have much to live on in an attacking sense, but his positional discipline was the trigger to ensure those behind him fell into a neat 4-5-1 shape. There was a sense that a point was there to be taken.

And that sense remained till Gurpreet palmed it to Irvine. Australia then made a couple of substitutes, and that helped totally seize the game away from India. Two of the subs, Riley McGree and Jordan Bos combined to score the second in the 73rd minute, McGree ripping past Bose with a turn of pace that the starting winger Boyle simply didn’t exhibit, before cleverly pulling it back for Bos, who’d ghosted into space to then pass it into the bottom corner.

It was a superbly worked goal, and surely Australia coach Graham Arnold will realise that this plan B needs to replace the plan A of spamming crosses and corners if the team are to make it deep into this tournament.

India, meanwhile, will take heart from their first half performance… and painful lessons from the second. One error is all it takes, but correcting that is very much under their own control.