India lose 0-4 against Aussies, but not disgraced

Australia comfortably beat India 4-0 in their 2011 AFC Asian Cup Group C opener at the Al Sadd Stadium in Qatar. The favourites never allowed their less-famed rivals to get into the game as the gulf in standards between the two sides was evident from the start.

India had to play without captain Baichung Bhutia, who couldn't take the field as he hasn't recovered from his calf muscle injury; while Bob played last minute replacement Mohammed Rafi upfront for Sushil Kumar Singh due to his two match suspension was taken out of the squad.

Most of the action was centred in the Indian half with goalkeeper Subrata Pal having a good game, which was needed off him as otherwise the defeat could have been heavier. All the players fought as hard as they could as they had to cover a distance on the field which is unusual to them. I-League players normally cover 2,5 to 3,5 kilometres in a match while some Indians yesterday did cover close to 11 kilometres, which is European league level.

The Australians took the lead through a Tim Cahill tap-in, Harry Kewell doubled the score with a beautiful curling long ranger before Brett Holman headed in Australia's third just before halftime. The Socceroos would add a fourth in the second session through a Tim Cahill header before in the end Sunil Chhetri just about missed the chance to score a consolation goal as he went past Lucas Neill, but Lucas recovered to deny Chhetri a shot.

Coach Bob Houghton said after the game, "We played a very good team. It's not by fortune that Australia are the number one team in Asia. They're very good and a team with enormous experience."

Talking about his boys, "They were playing against a team that is emerging at this level so it was a difficult game for us but I thought our boys stuck to their task very well. We kept our shape, we kept our discipline, we kept going and I thought we were a little bit unlucky. I'm pleased with our boys and I think they'll improve from it and learn from it."