India’s football head coach Igor Stimac admitted there is positivity with regard to their performance after a 2-0 Group B loss against Australia in the opening match of the AFC Asian Cup at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on Saturday.

The Blue Tigers came up with a gritty performance against the Aussies, not allowing the 25th-ranked team to score in the first half. However, Australia was able to break the deadlock with Jackson Ervine and Jordan Bos scoring in the 50th and 73rd minute respectively.

“We expected a very difficult match for us with the physicality of Australia and suffering from the corners that were coming, especially from the right side. But overall, there is positivity with regards to the performance. I’m not so happy with the result at the end because both goals came out of sloppy reactions. These goals didn’t come out of Australia’s brilliant display or action; it came just because of our irresponsibility at certain times,” Stimac conveyed during the post-match press conference.

Meanwhile, Australia took 28 shots on goals and dominated the possession with 70%. The Croatian was happy with his team’s resilient performance in the first half but shared his disappointment with the second half’s play.

“I’m happy as a coach to hold on to Australia in the first half in a goalless draw. There was only one clear chance during the first 45 minutes, and this chance was on our side, so we couldn’t open the score. But the second half was not good,” he commented.

“We couldn’t get out of that zone where we were just not capable of making that second pass and going over the half-line, on which we have been working really hard. These actions were missing there. Especially the experience of Australian players was holding back this situation because they were better game readers and quicker in their reactions, especially when dealing with second balls,” he continued.

India will next take on Uzbekistan at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Qatar on Thursday in their second match of the tournament.