Bengaluru, March 29: India suffered an embarrassing 0-6 rout at the hands of the UAE in the second international football friendly in Dubai.
Such was their performance that Igor Stimac's side did not even get a single shot on target in one of the most forgettable encounters in recent times.
Striker Ali Mabkhout scored hat-trick with goals in the 12th, 32nd and 60th minutes while Khalil Ibrahim (64th) and Fabio Lima (71st and 84th) added the other three.
𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄!
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 29, 2021
We go down to UAE at the end of the 90 minutes.
🇮🇳 0-6 🇦🇪#INDUAE ⚔️ #IndianFootball ⚽ #BackTheBlue 💙 pic.twitter.com/L7XnoyMV5G
India had given a good account of themselves in their first friendly match against fancied Oman with an impressive 1-1 draw.
India hold Oman 1-1 in first international match after COVID-19 lockdown
But the UAE, coached by fomer Dutch boss Bert van Marwijk, proved a tough nut to crack for them.
The gulf in the class and technical superiority was all too apparent, though India were without their skipper Sunil Chhetri, recovering from COVID-19 infection. Key defender Sandesh Jhingan was also rested as Stimac experimented with new players.
The draw against Oman had given a lot of hope to the Indians who are at 104th in FIFA chart against 74th ranked UAE. But it turned out to be their heaviest defeat against the UAE, obliterating the 0-5 loss in an international friendly in 2010 in Abu Dhabi.
Stimac had said just before the match that his players should be able to make quick decision against a much superior and technically far better opponents. His players did nothing, rather they were not allowed to do anything as UAE toyed with the Indians and create chances almost at will.
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The Indians were not allowed to hold the ball as UAE had 67 per cent possession as against India's 33 in the first half during which Ali Mabkhout chipped one over Indian goalkeeper and stand-in-captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and then scored from the spot after Adil Khan handled the ball inside the box.
The second half was no better for India, unlike against Oman when they fought back to equalise, as UAE laid bare the utterly porous Indian defence to pump in four more goals.
(With PTI inputs)