Hey Guys,
You can see the excitement
What a result it was last night.
I still think that I am in a dream
A draw against Qatar –
Arguably the best team of Asia
Playing away in Doha, holding them for a draw
has changed the scenario of the qualification  campaign for India and Oman
Yes Oman as well
What a performance it was from the boys
Gave everything they had. You could see that Gurpreet
got emotional after the game
And by Sunil Chhetri’s tweet, you could sense how happy he was
Have a lot of things to talk about
Let’s not waste our time and get started
The importance of this
historic draw against Qatar
The draw India played in Qatar –
What really is the importance of that?
Many people must have told you but
I will still point it out that it’s a win for India
The potential gain from this draw will be good for the future
Look at the record of Qatar in 2019
AFC Asian Champions,
Qatar FIFA Ranking is 62 and India is on 103
Maybe you won’t bother with the difference but India is just in the top 15 or 20 teams in Asia
But if you look at the result of Qatar in 2019
you will see that they won every game
against the Asian team before playing India
And now you will think that they must have played lower-ranked teams but no
let me tell you their results in 2019 against Asian Teams
Beat Lebanon 2-0
Beat North Korea 6-0
Beat Saudi Arabia 2-0
Beat Iraq 1-0
defeated South Korea 1-0
thrashed UAE 4-0
defeated Japan 3-1
then in the previous game they beat Afghanistan 6-0
And you know the result after that.
Qatar did not beat India
as India held Qatar for a 0-0 draw.
You will see that Japan
South Korea
UAE
Iraq
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
Lebanon
are not just any other low ranked teams in Asia.
Japan and South Korea are regular FIFA World Cup playing nations
and even they failed to keep a clean sheet against Qatar.
India became the first team in 2019 to keep a clean sheet against Qatar
And if you are still not proud of these numbers,
we will show you another stat
In 2019, only four teams have kept a clean sheet against Qatar
Just focus on the names of the four teams
Brazil
Argentina
Colombia
India
Only India kept a clean sheet against Qatar from Asia
Qatar went to play the Copa America 2019 after the  Asia Cup in the summer
They really played well there
Qatar is preparing for the World Cup 2022
which has been going on since the past 8 years
It isn’t like they have started just now
If you will look at the qualifiers
India lost to Oman in the first game
everybody was expecting that we will lose both the games against Qatar
that was the reason we needed a win against Oman
And we have earned a draw against Qatar in their own backyard
It’s a huge victory
For the overall team, coaching staff
and the players for how they played
The playing XI
the substitutes
Basically each and everything of the game
In the first half
I thought that India was playing overly defensive
But we will talk about it in detail in the tactics part
Let's go to the next part
Let’s talk about the impact it has on the qualifiers that we are playing
The draw really worked as a relief after losing against Oman
even when we were 1-0 up at half time
And the situation is in our favour
Of course, it is not completely in our favour
Hopefully, things which should happen in football
like this out-of-the-box performance by India should not happen against Qatar
Qatar should beat Oman in both the games
India should beat Bangladesh and Afghanistan in all of the four games
if you consider that Oman too beats Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their four games
then in the game in Oman in November
Oman vs India
That will be the must-win game for India
We have to win the game in Oman
If India wins that game
And beat Bangladesh and Afghanistan in all the other games
12+3+1=16 points will the tally of India
India will qualify for the next round of the FIFA World Cup 2022 Qualifiers
Only if Qatar does not lose a single point against Oman
There are a lot of conditions but this happens in qualifiers like these
There are other ways as well but to simplify
we have to win every game of the group
Especially against Afghanistan and Bangladesh
we are not saying we have to do something in the game against Qatar at home
and we are considering it a bye
but we have to beat Oman in their home
The game in November is very crucial
Hopefully, I think Oman will play that game for a draw
because it will be sufficient for them
but India has to go for a kill but
also have to make sure that we don’t repeat our horrors from Guwahati
The overall scenario is that the point we earned in Doha
if we beat Bangladesh and Afghanistan along with beating Oman in November
Qatar does not lose a single point against Oman then
India will have 16 points which will take India into the next round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers
It will be the biggest achievement for India in modern time
Apart from that India will qualify directly for AFC Asian Cup 2023
The draw plays a huge role here
Despite one point, it has changed everything
Let's talk about the tactical side in the next part
how India earned the one crucial point after irritating Qatar
We are already celebrating the draw but let's see how did it happen
It looked simple to defend
but India did what a layman might not understand
which included a tactical switch we talked about in the preview
Can India play a back five defence against the four-man attack of Qatar?
On paper, it was not a back five defence
but thought the game India has a back five formation
Surprising?
Maybe you might have noticed
but first let’s talk about the playing XI of the both the teams
You can look at the screen, India started 4-5-1
I was surprised with Mandar Rao Dessai coming in for Subashish Bose
Nikhil Poojary for Ashique Kuruniyan
Sahal for Brandon Fernandes
Manvir Singh for Sunil Chhetri
A lot of them were forced changes
We heard before the game that Sunil Chhetri had fever,
Ashique had a niggle
Thapa had a niggle
Coach had also mentioned that the squad was not fully fit
As of now we do not have any information
that which were tactical changes and which were forced changes
But personally was surprised by the inclusion of Poojary and Mandar
Bose is a very good defender
when the playing XI was revealed
many people messaged me that was India playing a back three
with Rahul Bheke,Sandesh and Adil as centre backs
with Udanta or Poojary and Mandar on wings
At first, I thought it was possible but then I realized it was not
We started 4-5-1 but we will discuss how it changed to 5-4-1
But before that, lets talk about Qatar’s playing XI
There were surprises as well
And before the game, news came out that Akram
was forced to leave from the squad over disciplinary issues
Because of that, Qatar changed it’s formation,
they started playing 4-3-3
and the other huge tactical change they did was Yusuf and Al-Haydoz
You must remember that in the preview
we showed Al-Haydoz on the right  - their main playmaker and Yusuf on the left
Both of them switched their wings but the role stayed the same
Yusuf stayed on the wing along with the line and Al-Haydoz kept in cutting in to shoot
This is how both the teams set their playing XI
Let's talk about India
How India defend against Qatar
How did they form the back five
You will see India started Mandar & Rahul Bheke as Left Back & Right Back
And both of them came close to their nearest centre backs
You can see on the screen how close they were
Nikhil Poojary throughout the game played as a left wing-back
as Mandar Rao Dessai used to tuck in as the third centre back and Nikhil was going into LB or LWB position
You can see on the screen how India switched formations
Nikhil and Udanta are getting highlight
Udanta did went into defensive position as compare to Nikhil
Mandar Rao came very close to Adil Khan
We will explain it better with the help of screenshot
Rowlin Borges came very deep to help the defense
He did not left any gap in between
Rowlin helped India to maintian that shape
Other than that, Sahal and Thapa
Both worked as a pair in defense and attack
Firts 45 minutes India did not done much in the attack
We shoudl talk about Manvir singh as he played role of defensive forward very well
When ever India got the ball , he tried his best to hold the ball to brought wingers into the game
And another important point is that he replaced Chhetri Which will never be as easy as it looks
Now lets see when India won the ball more in the second half
Udanta Kuman, there were lots of talks regarding his place in the team
but as i said in the preview that his pace is assest for the team
as best defenders in the world struggled against pace
The left back, who was the Asian Player of the Year in 2018 is Qatar’s fastest player
And Udanta didn’t allow him the freedom to move forward with his counter attacking runs.
When ever India got the ball, Udanta left as a Rajadhani Express
With him Sahal, Thapa join the attack and Manvir played important role
Nikhil did not went into attacing third like others but he played his role well
Udanat exploit space on the right wing
It was very important as it helped India to limit Qatar from their left side
You can see in which territory Udanta & Nikhil Operated
Nikhil played most of the game as a second left back for India
He did not contribute much in the attack
but he shielded Mandar against Yusuf and Ro-Ro
Yusuf was hunging the by line for Qatar
and their right back Ro-Ro was coming inside
Nikhil helped his team to deal with this threat
Now you can see Manvir Singh as he played
Defensive forward role very well
Sahal was at his best in the second half as he controlled the match in midfield
You can see in which territory Sahal operated
Thapa played his role of senior partner very well
In the first half he lead the pressing part very well
This is how India played their game in attack and defensive part
even after bringing subs in, India used same tactics
Now you can see when we put both squad on tactical pitch
Now you can see Yusuf was hunging his byline
There was a top scorer of Asia, about which there were lots of talk in the media before the game
Adil and Sandesh need to check their pockets after the game to find him
But Ali was Qatar best player in the attacking third after Ali Haydos
But he did not get anything to do during the match
You can see how Nikhil came on defensive position to help Mandar
Qatar right back no 2 Ro-Ro was coming inside instead of going out
because Yusuf was strecthing the defense
other than that Indian midfield 3
Broges, Sahal, Thapa
They went ahead, behind together
Udanta did not dropeed deep as compare to Nikhil
made himself available for the counter attack
because of it Hassan was kept check by his counter attack threat
When ever India got ball Udanta used his pace to counter attacj
You can see the highlighted space which was used by him
On our left side defense both Nikhil and Mandar did well
against duo of Yusuf and Ro-ro
Hatim who replaced Akram & operated as a advance Midfielder
did not had much impact on the game
because of Udanta counter threat India kept Hassan quiet
When ever India won the ball
Manvir, Udanta, Thapa and Sahal created main furcum of the attack
Nikhil did not went ahead much compare to others
Qatar majority chances came from their left side of the attack
Their tactical switch in the playng worked well for them
Al Haydos troubled Rahul Bheke a lot
their most of the chances were created by Al Haydos
Al Haydo  cut inside from left side to take shots, cross etc
With which MOM Gurpreet dealt well with it
This is how game was played tactically
the back 5 which we discussed in the preview
It was not traditional back 5 but tweak version of it
as India did not played extra Center back in form of Anas
but there was a back 5 throughput the game
For better understaning of these tactics, lets see some situation from the match
This is screenshot from 5th minute
you can clearly see the back 5 of Rahul, Sandesh, Adil, Mandar and in the same line you can see Nikhil
There are midfield 4 of Udanta, Rowlin, Thapa and Sahal. Manvir ahead of them
This is how India created back 5 through the game
Brandon played same role as of Nikhil after coming in
It was not traditional back 5 but tweak version of it
Which helped India to nullified Qatar front 4
This is another example in which Mandar is asking to Nikhil to fall back on his traditional left back positon
I am going inside to help Adil, you cover my position
As Yusuf was strechting their right wingh
This is anothe incident when India got the ball
When ever India got the ball players switched their shape in the attacking shape
Which was different from the past as team did not tried to clear the ball but tried to play from the back
When ever India got the ball team switched their shape very well
You can see Mandar is on traditional left back position and Nikhil is in forward line
Rowlin have the ball, if you check India's shape it is 4 back, midfield 3 and attack 3
This was brave effort from the team
Even after defending most of the part but India did well when they got chance to attack
Another example from 27th minute of the match
India back 5 is clearly visible in this example also
there are 4 in the midfield
Qatar most of the attack happened from their left side ( India's right side of defense)
as India had two left back in the form of Nikhil and Mandar
another reason bheind that was Udanta as he was bit attacking compared to other players
This is from 81st minute of the match
Thapa had the ball in the Qatar half, Indian players very clamly kept the possession
Confidence was clearly visible among Indian players
because of which Qatari players got frustated
as Qatar unable to play the game in midfield
which forced them to use wing more and play on Gurpreet Strength
and even big players in the world will not able to score goals on Gupreet Strength
This show how India finished the game
India won the ball in the 93rd minute
and indian players moving towards attack instead of clearing it
This is how  India played throughout the game
and back 5 tactical switch worked in the favour of Blue Tigers
Which we highlighted in the preview
It was not traditional back but it was tweak version of it
but it was very effective back 5
which was the main reason of this historic draw
You have just seen how India tactically
Played out a draw against Qatar
Let’s move on to discuss about the 6 factors
That played an important role in the result
I would rather say these were the key factors in India’s ‘win’ against Qatar
This result is as good as a win for us.
The first factor is obviously Gurpreet Singh Sandhu
The skipper, Arjuna Awardee, first Indian to play in the UEFA Europa League and
The first Indian to captain a top side in a European division.
A lot of questions were raised regarding his performance and selection.
People in the live streaming even asked me whether we need to allow the other goalkeepers a chance.
But like I always insist, mistakes can happen from anyone
but Gurpreet is a big game player
He showed against Qatar how he succeeded against all odds
In absence of Sunil Chhetri, he led the team as a captain
The opposition took a staggering 27 shots on goal!
27 shots!
Out of those, 11 were on target and 11 were saved by Gurpreet
Not from close range, long range, corner , crosses
Gurpreet was at his best as he didn’t allow a single shot to hit the back of the net.
This performance of his reminds me of that excellent display by Subrata Pal in 2011 against Australia and South Korea.
Subrata was instrumental that time and yet India failed to keep a clean sheet.
Unlike then, Gurpreet is a major reason behind India keeping a clean sheet against Qatar.
Not to forget, Adil Khan and Sandesh Jhingan, our bearded warriors were equally instrumental.
I’ve mentioned this in the previous videos
that the centre-backs need to play it close to have a better communication between themselves.
They showed how they are continuously improving in their communication between themselves in each game.
The duo managed to stave off all the aerial balls from the opposition
And at the same time also managed to communicate well
with Mandar, Bheke, Udanta, Nikhil, Sahal, Thapa and Rowllin to keep a compact formation.
Both played imortant role in this draw
If you have watched Game of Thrones, you might relate that Gurpeet was The Wall
So Adil and Sandesh were the castle of black hold the wall firm
The partnership between the centre-back pair was absolutely fantastic in both the games.
I think India have found themselves a centre-back partnership for a long term.
We also have good options for back-up in Anas and Narender.
Hopefully it will help India in the long term.
The third important factor is Udanta Kumam - The Indian Flash
Who was on the right song especially in the second half.
The winger tirelessly used his pace for almost the entirety of the game.
The opposition left back would have been baffled by his speed and determination
The left back, who was the Asian Player of the Year in 2018 is Qatar’s fastest player
And Udanta didn’t allow him the freedom to move forward with his counter attacking runs.
Udanta, who is the fastest Indian player even went to the extent to Surpass Hassan on few occasions.
Udanat Played big role
The 4th factor might be ignored by many but is a crucial one.
Manvir Singh
After the game, I wished to give Manvir a 7.5 rating
But then my team insisted that you cannot
give a 7-pointer rating to a striker
Who hasn’t scored or delivered an assist.
We need to give a 6-pointer.
It was my personal opinion but we went ahead with team opinion
He got 6.5 rating only
Yet, for me it was a performance worth a 7.5 rating
Manvir played a role of a defensive forward rather than a striker
Which is not at all an easy task
He fought hard against 4-5 Qatari defenders to keep the ball possession
and Distribute it well towards the wingers
And another important point is that he replaced Chhetri
Which will never be as easy as it looks
And Manvir is not even a regular starter for ISL side FC Goa
He is a sporadic starter for the National Team, had his opportunity in the SAFF Championship
Where he registered several goals for the country.
This is an important factor that has emerged out of the game
In my opinion, we need to try a combination between Chhetri and Manvir
Manvir deserves huge credit for his performance against Qatar.
Delivering a fabulous performance for the country at such a level, he deserves an applause.
The 5th factor is about Sahal and Thapa combo
It is also an important point as you will see a screenshot appearing in front of you
Sahal is a CDM while Rowllin and Thapa are RCM and LCM respectively.
Playing Brandon instead of Sahal in the last game against Oman was purely a tactical switch by the coach.
In absence of Ashique, Sahal had to step up and what a defensive performance he delivered alongside Thapa!
It was threatening to Qatar, the way they converted the game from defence to attack.
Due to the presence of the duo in the midfield, Qatar were forced to operate from the flanks.
Full credit goes to Sahal and Thapa and even to Brandon and Rai who came off the bench to perform equally well.
Moving forward to the last and very important factor, the substitutions.
It was something that went wrong in the last game and 
was subsequently corrected in this game.
Initially India used only two substitutes in this game but they were likewise substitutions
without changing the shape.
Brandon replaced Nikhil Poojary on the left wing while Vinit Rai replaced Sahal in the middle of the park.
Had it been wrong substitutions like the last game,
we would have definitely conceded a goal.
But we used our substitutions very wisely.
In the end, even Thapa was brought off and Narender stepped in his place.
India did everything as we had discussed in our previous videos and
In this way the team played out a historic draw against Qatar.
Now that the pre season of ISL has begun, the players will return back to their respective clubs.
India’s next fixture is against Bangladesh in October in Kolkata.
The coach has expressed his wish to see more than 80,000 supporters to back the Blue Tigers.
We are definitely the favourites to win against Bangladesh
But at the same time we cannot underestimate anyone
We shouldn’t make the same mistake as Oman and Qatar of underestimating their opponents
Hopefully we play well against Bangladesh and that the players have a good pre seasonWith their clubs
Hopefully Amrajit and Jeje return by that time and India become stronger in the latter stages of the qualifiers
Till the time, we will keep you updated regarding the National Team, the ISL and the youth teams
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