India vs Bangladesh, Asian Cup Qualifier: Marquez laments 'reality of Indian football' after goalless draw in Shillong

Indian football team coach Manolo Marquez was left “angry and disappointed” after his team was held to a goalless draw by Bangladesh in their Asian Cup qualifying match in Shillong on Tuesday. The Blue Tigers nearly conceded a goal on several occasions at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the Meghalaya capital, including five seconds after kick-off, and failed to capitalise on opportunities later in the game to settle for a stalemate against a team ranked 59 places below them on the FIFA rankings.

“When you enter the game and you concede the chance you did within five seconds…,” the Spaniard said, referring to goalkeeper Vishal Kaith’s blunder seconds after kickoff that nearly gifted the Bengal Tigers an early lead. “Practically I don’t want to speak much.

“I am very angry, disappointed with everyone. I do not have words for this poor performance,” he added.

‘Most difficult press conference in my career’: Marquez

Tuesday’s draw was the latest in a series of disappointing results for the Indian men’s football team, which has been going through a steady decline since 2023 and had failed to win a single game in 2024. Marquez had later stepped in as coach after the AIFF sacked his predecessor Igor Stimac, who had occupied the post since 2019.

The current state of affairs in Indian football can be deduced from the fact that veteran forward Sunil Chhetri was forced to come out of retirement nearly a year after bidding the Blue Tigers an emotional goodbye in order to help his team make a third consecutive Asian Cup appearance.

Chhetri had scored his 95th international goal in India’s 3-0 victory over Maldives but couldn’t breach the Bangladeshi defence, despite getting the perfect opportunity to break the deadlock served on a platter shortly before the final whistle.

Marquez did count Liston Colaco’s performance as a positive, but lamented the “reality of Indian football” while adding that Tuesday’s post-match press conference was the most challenging of his career.

“Liston was a positive on the left side but it was not enough. This is not enough. Maybe this is the reality of Indian football.

“If you ask me, maybe today is the most difficult press conference in my career because I don’t want to say all the things that are in my head in this moment.

“We played a bad game and that’s all. In the second half we tried, but not enough,” Marquez added.

Singapore and Hong Kong also played out a goalless draw in the other Group C match of the Asian Cup third-round qualifiers that took place in Singapore.

India, the top-ranked side (126th) in Group C, face Hong Kong in their next outing on 10 June.