Asian Cup 2019: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu - Disappointing not to have a clean sheet so far

Thursday night did not go India's way as they lost out 2-0 to the UAE in the AFC Asian Cup 2019. Although the Blue Tigers created more chances than the home side in the first half and were denied by the post twice in the second half, Stephen Constantine's men failed to score any and shipped two goals.

Even after the a hard-to-swallow defeat, India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was full of praise for this teammates.

"I am proud of the boys. The way we performed today I don’t think people would have expected that. We were very unlucky; we could have scored two or three goals.

"It comes down to things which are not in our control. The way we conceded was soft. I would like to look into it and make sure it doesn’t happen. Things would have been different (if it did not go in). After the first half, we could have been 2-0, 3-0 up. But that is the way football works. It is unfair and cruel. They did not miss their chances, we missed ours."

He also felt that India matched UAE in all departments but they just could not capitalise.

"Physically, yes. Tactically yes, especially in the first half when we were forcing them to commit those mistakes. It did work out for us but unfortunately, we did not score.

The Bengaluru FC custodian is looking forward to the Bahrain game and wants the team to take their chances against them on Monday.

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"We have to be strong. We can't sit back and absorb the pressure. We wanted to press them (UAE) and make sure that they make mistakes and hit on the counter. We got the chances but unfortunately could not score. We hit the crossbar twice. But this happens in football. We have to keep our chin up and make sure we perform in the last game against Bahrain."

"The team is fit. It just comes down to the chances. If we would have scored those chances it would have been a different game physically and mentally. We needed a bit more from us. Great job by the boys overall. I am really proud of the performance."

He did rue the fact that India's defence could not keep a cleansheet in both their games so far.

"It is disappointing to not have clean sheets in the Asian Cup so far. The ways we have conceded is really not extraordinary. It is not something that was really not under my control. We need to make sure we don't give away chances like that," he concluded.

India play their final Group A game against Bahrain on 14 January in Sharjah.