 It's another episode of 420 Grams and it was drama in Dushanbe this evening as India once again for the second game on the trot, managed to rescue a point from a game that seemed lost. 1-1 against Afghanistan, Afghanistan's home game tonight. And for large chunks of the game, India looked like they wouldn't get anything out of it. We've got in the studio, where we have Raghunandan and joining us from Manipur is former India captain, Renedi Singh. Renedi, I'll come to you first man. What do you make of the game? I think the second half was good, but the first half we have given too much of respect and they have killed us the game. We were playing Afghanistan, yes, good side, but they were not Qatar or they were not Oman. And we have seen that in the second half, if we can play this good game, why not in the first half? First half I think we were too behind. And I think we were given, like I said, why I think we were given respect is that a player like Brandon coming to div in the defence and taking a ball from Adil's feet. And that was not the attacking game which we have played in the second half. And in the second half, I never seen Brandon coming down and taking a ball from the feet. And he was creating more chances in the opponent's half. And that's how we should play and players know that. Players know that if we can play better so well in the second half, we have scored goals Sunil Sethri, a great header. And of course one went out, crosses from the left Farooq. But we got chances by playing that good football. So better second half, but too much respect in the first half. Yeah, but is that partly to do with the way the team was tactically set up and the pressure that was on the team to get a sort of positive result, get a win out of this game instead of at least after the Bangladesh game? Bangladesh game we were attacking, we were attacking the whole 90 minutes. Bangladesh were sitting at the back for the 90 minutes, but we knew that Afghanistan at home is not going to sit down at the back and wait to counter attack. So why don't, why we have to play like in the first half sitting deep? But we could have easily played like in the second half for 45 minutes. In that 45 minutes, 35 minutes, we played attacking football and there were more bodies in the first half in the opponent's zone which we didn't get to see in the first half. So why not? It's all about confidence. Yeah, again, it's an experience, but it's all about the confidence that when you give too much of respect, it hurts and they hit on that. And we got hit on that, I mean. Obviously, there's like two ways to look at this. One is we've rescued a point. The other is, and I'm sure the coach is going to be saying this, is that listen, we were down a goal, we were away from home and we've still come back for till injury time and got a point. Which is like a great thing. But like you're saying, is it because they were set, the way that they were set up? Now, I can't see them setting up any differently. I can't see the coach deciding that, hey, I'm going to play Ashik at left back and play Farouk on the left wing from the start of the game. That's never going to happen. He will want to play Ashik on the wing. So it's just a matter of like, no matter what the personnel is, the urgency has to be the same. Which is essentially how what you want to do, which is essentially what Kennedy is also saying. I mean, we've just gone through the game and Weber was doing a live blog on it as well. Also, large periods of the game were without incident. So a few of the things that I wanted to bring up to talk about in this show, one was this pitch seemed very narrow, very compact. So even though we had a five man midfield, we had a packed midfield, players like Sunil, players playing in the center Sahel, these boys were not getting time and space on the ball to actually create anything with it. And as a result, the closest that we came over when crosses were coming in or off set pieces, right? Yeah, they didn't allow our midfielders to move because they didn't sit back. They were pressing high. They were not allowing any passes to be given from the center of the field. They were closing down as soon as possible. And that's why Abdul Ali Samad or Sunil were not getting space to move as freely as they want to. That's that we have to give credit to Afghanistan for closing down too quickly, which in the first half within, right? We were sitting at the back and waiting for them to attack and so that we can counter attack. But then when you get a ball also, you have got 60, 70 yards to travel and we didn't have that much body or legs to do that. So I think we allowed them to come in. And on the other hand, Afghanistan were pressing too quick and that's how they managed to play well in the first half. But yes, in the second half, India became the way they have played. They played with the same style, but more bodies in the opponent's half. And that's how we could create a chances. That's how we could see that Sunil Sethri got more into the ball and the other players and we have to see that we have to give a credit to the court system for a chance for Lendungal. I'm not saying that Lendungal scored because he played. That's only because we are praising him. No, but in that 10 minutes or 12 minutes, whenever he got a chance, he looks dangerous. Whenever he gets a ball, he looks dangerous. And he got the reward for getting inside. So now in the first half, how many times have we seen we putting our bodies in the opponent's box? Not really, right? In the second half, we got the chances because we've got more bodies in the opponent's box and we got it. And Sunil Lendungal is right there knocking the door that he's ready to fight for the position. So now it will be good to see either Udanta or Sunil Lendungal. That's actually a good thing that's come out of it. An interesting new development. Your Pranay Haldar, who is playing in a sort of holding role, as the game developed, he also had more chance to collect himself and just play a simple pass, play a simple pass, play a simple pass and get those players involved. Siddhan, that's a very good question. This is what we were talking with my friend who is also a coach here. So we were talking about what we were talking about. Of course, yes, he is a good player, Pranay Haldar. He fits in the etiquette style of the game. And he was a good player and an important player in contestant philosophy. But what I feel with Timak, he needs a player who can play quicker, who can play the pass quicker and who is more comfortable with the ball and which we don't get to see from Pranay Haldar. Pranay Haldar, I think he will be great when we play a better team like Qatar. But when we have to go all out attacking, I think he is not the player we need. I think Thapa would be more valuable in this type of game. I'm not saying Pranay Haldar is a bad player, but in this system, I think we need a guy who can play quicker, who can move quicker and who can play the pass and then who can create the chances. He is more of a defensive role where he takes time to, like you said, save pass, sometimes you have to take the risk and pass ahead. Fair enough. I want to ask you man, in terms of how now Steemash is lining up his teams and how he is doing on a tactical basis, in the end of this game, essentially it was like throw everything at it, right? Point all your goals in one direction. And of course against teams like Afghanistan, like Renédi is saying that is exactly what India needs to be doing. You need to be doing it from the first kickoff, not waiting till you are pretty much desperate and clutching its straws to do it. That apart, how do you see the tactical evolution of this team over the last 5-6 games? Both of you start with that one. I'm not sure, I don't know where the goals are coming from up front. We've now scored 3 goals in the qualifiers and all 3 different scorers but 2 of those goals have been in injury time. Set pieces. Brandon's corner and... Brandon's corner, Adil scores, Brandon's corner, Dungal scores. So I don't know who is scoring the goals up front. I also feel like Sunil is being forced to drop back too deep to pick up the ball constantly. I think it was only in the second half like Renédi also said earlier. When he was actually in his spaces, like he was finding spaces, he was getting in a little more there. Again, I don't know what to make of the tactical evolution of the last few games because initially Sahel was looking really good but now he's suddenly looking... I don't know, is he overwhelmed? Is he injured? I don't know what's going on there with the player himself. But he's looking a little leggy on the ball. He's not managing to do those little tricks, those little bits of magic that he was... those bits of magic that really got us in the King's Cup, for example. That kind of play is not coming out anymore. Again, different opposition, different situation. And at the back, well, we have who we have at the back. Plenty of... Yeah, and also injury concerns and things like that. Yeah, exactly. So is this like a stop line? Fair enough. Although I do believe that Renédi is going to play the next game against Oman for sure. Yeah. It goes in perfectly with what he's saying, exactly. And I feel that if you see the line, you're talking about the last few games. I think the first two games against Oman and Qatar, I think, to play against those teams, I think India played really well, defensively. Defensively well, and contrary to that, we got a goal against Oman. It was a good start. And again, when we went to Qatar, where everyone thought we will get three or four goals easily, but the way our footballers have performed, I think that was the best example. But now, the funny part is, the important part is, are we ready to play when the team, when the 10 men is defending in their own half? Do we have that kind of player who can create chances in that congested area? No, we are not yet ready for that. So it's a process where we all have to understand that playing defensive and counterattack, we have done really, really well. So I give credit to all the boys, but when we have to break down like Afghanistan, when we play Bangladesh, are we that great players to create chances now in the process? And we have to give time for that. This is the next step to Indian football. And we can't just blame on the players because some of them, they have started really late playing football. So we just can't because they have to be more comfortable. We need players who are highly technical, technical, who really sound technically. And we don't have that many. So to play this, I like the stimuli style of play as I have said earlier also, but we need quality players who are more comfortable with the ball when we play a team like Bangladesh or Afghanistan where they will be defending deep. And we have to remember that, of course, we have to remember that in these qualifiers, we have one game against both these sides remaining. We have an opportunity to do better than we have done in the previous two matches and perhaps get a couple of wins on the board. In the context of Afghanistan, really I want to ask you this. In the last 8-10 years, you know, not so long ago, we were covering a game when the Afghanistan home game was playing in Tau-Devilal stadium in Gurgaon. Which was the opposite of the World Cup final. The two lowest ranked teams in the world were playing against each other in that reverse, it was Bhutan and Afghanistan. And in that relatively short period, even though their ranking isn't that high, they've managed to put together a highly competitive team I think by bringing in players from the wider Afghan diaspora, whether it's Germany, US, I think there's a couple of players from, who are based in Australia as well, the Netherlands, so from all over the place. How do you think in the larger scheme of Indian football or the national team, India also has a massive diaspora of people living all over the world, how can we bring some of that talent into feature with the national team and do you think that's a way of looking at maybe accelerating India's movement forward? I think that's the thing where government and AFF have to understand because we have to see that where Afghanistan, I know that there are many players from there, they don't play in Afghanistan. Like you said, they play in Germany, second division, there are many players from Germany, there are many players who are playing in Turkey, second or third division. In every part of Europe, there are many players in Scandinavia playing first or second division. So they are not a bad side. They are a player who have tasted in second division or third division in European standard. So they are not bad as what if they are not all local players. So I think it will be great if India can also look, but this is something where government and the AFF has to do the meeting and take a decision on that. Of course it will be great if we can have, we have seen Michael Chopra when he was on his prime in Southampton, in Newcastle. Even he, Bob Houghton tried to get him, but didn't manage to because it's a government issue. Regulations. What we have to understand. Yeah, basically the dual nationality aspect where we ask those players to give up their passports and then take an Indian passport, otherwise they can't play for India. It's something that needs to be perhaps looked at. In fact, recently I got a message from Danny Bath. Yeah, again, and given India's defensive sort of difficulties at this point, someone like him coming in at Central Defence would be a massive boost to the national team. But I don't know how that will play out. Any other sort of things that from this game stood out for you guys? Come again? Anything else that stood out from this game for you, specifically from this game? So the positive we have to take in the second half, first 20 minutes from the second half and the last 12 minutes from the second half is what we have to take the positive from. And that's where we created chances. We could have scored the goal and the confidence that we have seen. We cannot see in the first half, we have seen in that. And the players, you know, this is not a time to talk negative, but then this is a time we take all the positive from here and play well in the remaining matches. But one good thing is that the second half, you know, when you are down for, say, 80, 85 minutes and you scored a goal, players regain that confidence. And this is a good thing, you know, that we didn't lose. If we would have lost this match, it would have been very, very difficult to come back. And you know how even the fans back in India and the journalists, for players, it would have not been easy. But we have to thank for the lovely delivery from Brendan and a perfect header from Landungal who has come in. And I hope he work hard and fight for the position. And it will be a good selection for Stimak. And we need players who can create something out of nowhere that individual brilliance or individual quality when we have to play against a Saudi Asian side. Yeah, I think the thing that has come out is Landungal. It's good for Udanta to have a little bit of competition. Regardless of whether Land starts or not or Udanta starts. Forget about that. It's just good to have competition for every position on the pitch. And it's perfect that we have someone who is doing that now. Yeah, absolutely. Whether he starts or not, even if he comes in at 75 minutes, at least the opposition is thinking, it's not like Udanta Singh will play all 90 minutes. There can be someone else instead. And he's trying to do something different as well. His style of play is different. But we could see that the coach was travelling just before this match for last 2-3 weeks back. We have seen that our national team coach has been travelling to Kerala watching matches, Goa watching matches. So this is why only because he could see the match and he has seen how Landungal... Otherwise, Landungal were nowhere in the scene even though he scored a hat-trick if you remember with North East. And nobody seems to give a damn. But it's all credit to the coach that he went and see that. And it's a good selection, right? I was not thinking that Landungal will come to the team. But then he's there in the team, came for 12 minutes. He scored the goal and he's fighting for his position now. So then we have to give credit to the coach for that, for those kind of selection. Yeah, and it will be a massive... It's not easy at all. And it will be a massive boost to Len as well coming back to his club side. Of course going into the next game against Oman first. But then coming back to the club side and then hoping to make more of an impact for his club side. Yeah, yeah. Brandon to Len and boom. Yeah, yes, Siddhan. Whenever you get a score and when India was facing a difficult position and you took out from that, you bailed out from that and I think he will gain a lot of confidence from there. And we all know that Gawar, they are doing well, even a player like Jeketan who was also doing well. But he couldn't do much for Indian team, but for the club side. So Len will play with more confidence and I'm sure in the coming months he will be a better player. But good feeling that, you know, India at the end moment we've scored. Otherwise we would have been in trouble. Yeah, especially since we're sitting around late at night and we've kept the studio staff as well, waiting around to shoot this very rapid fire review of the game. It would have been really disappointing if we were sitting here talking about a loss. Yeah, we are. We're at least smiling now. We're at least smiling now. A draw is better than a loss. Yeah, definitely. We have to take all the positive from here and look forward to the remaining matches. Fair enough. On that note from Reddy Singh, I think we'll wrap it up unless you have something to add. India play Oman on the 19th of this month. That's in four days time. We'll be back with a preview to that game. Hopefully, Reddy Singh will join us again, as will Bebha Bragnandan. Thank you for watching. Thank you, Siddhan. Thank you, Siddhan. Thank you. You guys are looking great. Thank you. Beautiful. Bye-bye. Good night. See you brother and thank you for watching. Stay tuned to NewsClick.org.