India coach Igor Stimac has lamented the goals his side conceded from sloppy reactions after their loss to Australia in their AFC Asian Cup 2023 opener.

In the AFC Asian Cup 2023 opener, India faced a challenging match against Australia on Saturday. Despite a resilient display, particularly in the first half, India succumbed to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Socceroos. The Blue Tigers managed to keep the score level at halftime, thanks to some solid defending.

However, the second half saw Australia intensify their attack, resulting in Jackson Irvine breaking the deadlock in the 50th minute after a goalkeeping error by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. India’s hopes were further dashed when Jordan Bos doubled Australia’s lead in the 73rd minute. The loss left India with a challenging path ahead in the tournament, as they looked to regroup for their next match against Uzbekistan.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, as quoted by AP, Stimac said that the goals came due to sloppiness from his side during the match and not due to some brilliant display from Australia.

“Both goals came from our sloppy reactions,” India coach Igor Stimac said. “These goals didn’t come off Australia’s brilliant display of action, just because of our irresponsibility at certain times.”

Very difficult match for us: Igor Stimac on India’s loss to Australia

The Indian coach admitted, as quoted by Reuters, that the match was a difficult one for his side, especially with the physicality of Australia as they suffered from the corners. Stimac also felt that the Socceroos were able to read situations better than his side.

“Very difficult match for us with the physicality of Australia, we suffered from their corners,” Stimac said.

“We couldn’t get out of the zone and were unable to make that second pass to move past the half line… Australia are more experienced, they read situations better.”