The return of legendary centre-back Sandesh Jhingan wearing the national team colours in India‘s 1-1 draw against Malaysia in an international friendly at the Maidaan in Gachibowli, Hyderabad on Monday, November 18 was highly anticipated. The FC Goa defender returned to national team action after about ten months on the sidelines nursing an ACL injury and was in fine fettle marshaling the back line.
Given the captain’s armband by head coach Manolo Marquez, Jhingan slotted back into his natural role quite comfortably and was seen vocally cheering and berating his teammates in equal measure, albeit in a composed tone, throughout the game. None of his technical ability – of marking his opponents tightly and rarely giving them an inch of space – seemed to have eroded over the time he spent on the sidelines, and the 31-year-old showcased yet again why he is so highly rated in this country.
Sitting down for an exclusive conversation with IFTWC, Jhingan spoke about what it meant to him to make a comeback into the national team (although he has played a couple of games for Goa already) and also laid bare what he thought about the Blue Tigers’ performance in this game.
“I am extremely happy to be back. I played two games in the ISL before this, but playing for the national team is something else. I am very grateful to the people who helped me come back. I would have been happier had we won, but we will take the positives and look to rectify the mistakes. Life goes on, and as I said, we have to keep looking ahead,” said Jhingan.
One of the overriding errors that India made in this game came from their highly esteemed goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu. The latter was responsible for conceding Malaysia’s sole goal in the 19th minute when he rushed out of his lines – in a moment of sheer panic – to head a loopy long ball coming in from the right-hand side of midfield.
Unfortunately, the ball bounced over his 6ft 6inch frame and landed on the feet of the visitors’ attacker Sturmer Paulo Josue, who tapped it into the empty net. Jhingan, however, defended his custodian and mentioned that these things happen in football.
“That’s football, you know. We have all been there, and these things happen. Perhaps it was the pitch, but we all know that he (Sandhu) is a top, top goalkeeper. I cannot speak highly enough about his ability and the way he has protected us at the back both here and at Bengaluru FC. He must have made over a thousand saves by now to protect our backline over his career. It is silly to point fingers at him as he is one of the best goalkeepers in Asia. These things happen, this is just football,” he added.
Sandesh Jhingan – “We have to be prepared for March as we try to qualify for our third Asian Cup in a row”
When asked about what he thought of India’s performance in the attacking third, Jhingan mentioned that he felt the creation of chances had gone well. India opted to play with a new centre-forward duo of Farukh Choudhary and Irfan Yadwad in this game, with coach Marquez only bringing wingers Manvir Singh, Edmund Lalrindika and Liston Colaco on towards the latter end of the second half.
Mumbai City midfielder Brandon Fernandes put up a top-drawer performance in this game, bagging the assist to Rahul Bheke’s goal in the 39th minute with a floated ball from the left corner.
“I still need to see the game more properly. I think we gave a pretty good account of ourselves. We kept the ball well and held it rather nicely. We also created chances in the final third. As for converting them into goals, we did our best in trying to break their defensive lines down. This is our fourth game under Manolo Marquez, and as we all know, things are getting better.”
“To achieve great things, you need a solid foundation, and you can see that the foundation is shaping up. We are happy with the way things are going, and come March, we will be ready for the challenge of the Qualifiers,” said Jhingan.
Marquez also handed out as many as four debuts against Malaysia – Yadwad, Valpuia, Vibin Mohanan and Jithin MS. Jhingan, being the senior professional in the side, was delighted with this, and spoke at length about what it means to get your first cap for your country.
The Chandigarh-born defender was not loath to admit that the Indian side need to be in shape and ready for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers in March 2025, and that those games have to be played at a very high intensity. India are looking to qualify for their third Asian Cup in a row.
“I spoke to them in the dressing room – it is massive for them! I told them that they might feel that, “Oh, it’s alright,” but it is going to be the most magical day of their lives. I still remember when I made my debut for the national team in 2015, and I told the boys to cherish these memories as such days do not come again in one’s life. So well done to them, they have thoroughly deserved it with their performances in the ISL.”
“I hope all of us can stay in shape and keep performing well to be ready for March. Those are going to be extremely important games as we try to qualify for our third Asian Cup in a row,” he concluded.
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