Bengaluru FC created history by becoming the first Indian club to play the AFC Cup final on Saturday night, but their dream of winning the trophy was dashed by a clinical Air Force Club, Iraq, with a Hammadi Ahmed goal in the 70th minute.
Was this the best foot forward that the Bengaluru team could put? Could they have done things differently?
Here are five takeaways from last night's match:
Formation, tactics rendered irrelevant
Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca fielded the same XI that he has on most occasions since taking charge of his team, with the exception of playing Lalthuammawia Ralte in goal in place of the suspended Amrinder Singh. BFC's strategy in most of Roca's games has been to consolidate on the defensive solidity of the centre-half pairing of John Johnson and Juan Antionio. This allows wing-backs Rino Anto and Nishu Kumar to get more involved in attack and usually gives the team numerical superiority when moving forward. On Saturday, the speed and the pressure put by Air Force Club early in the first half made Bengaluru lose most battles for possession. The enormity of the occasion also seemed to get to the younger players such as CK Vineeth and Alwyn George, who often received the ball but then succumbed to an error in decision-making when looking at options to pass.
Midfield has a (rare) off-day
Eugeneson Lyngdoh, a key player in the past two seasons for Bengaluru FC, has been joined by Alvaro Rubio this summer. But both played probably their most inconsistent games of the season. Lyngdoh's usual precision in passing was missing, while Rubio often found himself either robbed of possession softly or unable to win aerial battles in the midfield. After a couple of poor attempts early on, Lyngdoh also found himself removed from set-piece responsibilities.
Also read: 'This is the beginning of a new era' - Roca
Great gamble
Credit must be given to Roca for having the courage to go on the offensive in the 64th minute with a risky double switch. He pulled off a wing-back and a midfielder for two attacking players in Udanta Singh and Len Doungel. The idea, as he later said at the press conference, was to steal a goal with the two paciest players on the pitch. Organisation-wise, it meant Cameron Watson would drop deeper to fill up as a centre-back, with Antonio moving a bit wider to the left. In retrospect it can be said that the move backfired, but it is important to remember that about two minutes before that the increased numbers had led Bengaluru to hustle the rival defence enough to win a corner. Off a set-piece routine between Lyngdoh and Watson at the far-right flag, the ball was sent curling all over the players to the far-left corner, from where Sunil Chhetri came in unmarked, but saw his snapshot blocked by a defender. 1-0 at that stage to Bengaluru could have seen a completely different scenario.
Set-piece specialists
Chhetri's second-half attempt wasn't the only one that caught Air Force Club by surprise. In the 87th minute, Bengaluru were awarded a free kick when centre-back Saud Natiq put in a clumsy challenge on Udanta midway between the centre-line and the Air Force Club penalty box. Watson then floated another ball, this time way towards the outside left of goalkeeper Fahad Talib. None of the Iraq players picked up Vineeth but he did not get a clean connection despite being the first to the ball. Even in defeat, Bengaluru showed a tactical finesse in set-pieces that has always been a strength area for them.
Also read: Bengaluru make themselves heard in Doha
Never-say-die spirit bodes well
It would have been easy for Roca to decide on a safety-first approach through the 90 minutes, given that the first half was dominated by Air Force Club. He could have played for extra-time and penalties, especially since the rival players had done most of the running in the first hour of the match. Instead, he looked to shake things up and make positive changes to the on-field eleven. Even when Bengaluru fell behind, his third and final change of replacing Rubio with Salam Ranjan Singh was a pragmatic one -- the Spaniard was tiring in the second half and Ranjan was expected to shore up the backline, allowing John Johnson to get into more advanced positions. Bengaluru threw everything at their opponents in the last 15 minutes or so, which included a substantial amount of added time. Their efforts for the most part lacked the penetration needed to breach the Air Force Club defence, but they kept trying till the very end.
Roca's wards were as good as his words at the pre-match press conference. "If we lose tomorrow, it will not be because we did not try," he had said on Friday. "If there's an opponent better than us, they have to show that they are really better than us and they need to beat us."