Sandesh Jhingan stresses on collective effort ahead of AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong

India’s veteran defender Sandesh Jhingan believes it is important for them to come up with a collective effort in their AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Hong Kong. The Blue Tigers had played a goalless draw against Bangladesh, who are placed 30 places down in the FIFA Rankings, in March.

Jhingan admitted they should have won that game but they could not deliver as a unit. India will play the friendly against Thailand on June 4 whereas they would take on Hong Kong on June 10.

Before the game against Bangladesh, India had registered a 3-0 win against Maldives, which ended the team’s 16-month winning drought.

“Each game we go into, we want to win. The same goes for the opponents we face. It always feels good to keep a clean sheet, but we’ve come a long way from that. We cherish the clean sheet, but we know we should’ve won that game,” Jhingan said in an interview with the-aiff.com.

The 31-year-old from Chandigarh said the defenders, midfielders and strikers need to come up with a collective show to deliver as a unit.

“If we keep a clean sheet and give all the laurels to the centre backs, full backs, the number six or the goalkeeper, it’s unfair. If my strikers don’t press well, if my number 10 isn’t taking their number six, maybe one game you can keep a clean sheet, the other one you won’t,” he explained.

He added: “In the same way, if my boys up front are not scoring and I just go in the dressing room and start bashing them for that, it would be the most stupid thing I could do. Because the reason they’re not scoring is that we, at the back, are not playing good enough balls to the midfield. The midfield is not putting good balls in the box. So, to point out a single aspect is very unfair and, at least in our team, we don’t think that way.”

The Blue Tigers had won the SAFF Championship, the Intercontinental Cup and the Tri-Nation Series in 2023. But since then, they haven’t been at their absolute best.

“The three tournaments tell us that our squad has the potential. We suffered in the last AFC Asian Cup, and I accept that, and I’ll be the first one to put my hand up. Just like you cannot rest on your laurels and sit back, when you don’t do well, it doesn’t mean you forget all the good work you’ve done,” Sandesh Jhingan concluded.