How Khalid Jamil is impressed by the exhausted Indian team in Cafa Nations Cup 2025

No avid observer is needed to notice the balanced nature of Khalid Jamil, whose reactions remain unaffected by the ebb and streams of a football match. And that did not change on Monday when India defeated a high -ranking Oman on penalties to win third place in the Cafa Nations Cup 2025.

While Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made the meaningful stop, where Jameel Al Yahmadi’s penalty would win the shootout for India, the Indian players and the staff rushed to him to celebrate. But while the camera pledged for a short moment to Jamil, he was reserved as always, with his facial expressions that do not give away how impressive an achievement it was for him, especially with an exhausted team.

It will not be exaggerated to say that Jamil got a difficult hand immediately after his appointment as head coach of the National Football team of the Indian men on 13 August. His immediate challenge was to prepare the team at the Cafa Nations Cup, where India was the second lowest ranked side (above Turkmenistan and Afghanistan). However, a greater challenge for the newly appointed coach was to work with an exhausted team.

Why an exhausted team?

Definitation of the Indian Super League champion Mohun Bagan Super Giant refused to release his players for the Indian camp for the Cafa Nations Cup. The Mariners have several players who are regularly starters for the national team, such as Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad, Anirudh Thapa, Deepak Tangri, Lalengmawia Ralte (Apuia) and Vishal Kaith.

Mohun Bagan stated that the event fell outside the international window, and they would not release players to protect their well -being and prevent potential injuries, while the All India Football Federation accused the club of «negligence» and «challenging» for not releasing players.

Jamil could have taken the easy route of Harping on this point of a weakened team, but the only thing he said was: «We will adapt to the players we have. We must accept this as a challenge. I don’t feel that there is problems; we have good players in the team.»

Achieve more with less

Jamil, responsible for only four games, has already achieved more than his predecessor, Manolo Marquez, who did not accompany India in eight matches to a competitive victory. The Spaniard left with a general record of one win, four draws and three losses in eight games. The only victory that came under the term of office of Manolo was a 3-0 win against the Maldives in a friendly one.

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The Spaniard had the luxury of all the players he wanted and even got Sunil Chhetri in his forward line when the veteran came out of international retirement. Nevertheless, he could not let the team click and he was unable to get important results, even against lower-ranked teams-two excellent examples are a scoreless draw against Bangladesh and a 0-1 loss against Hong Kong, both matches that are part of the AFC Asian Cup Third round qualifications.

Manolo even had the advantage that he would start his India coaching period against Mauritius in the Intercontinental Cup, a team rank considerably lower than the Blue Tigers, but that ultimately held the last against a scoreless draw.

In comparison, Jamil’s India official period against Tajikistan started, which is 27 places above India. A sandy version, however, yielded the Blue Tigers a 2-1 win because they defeated Tadjikistan after 17 years. The victory against Tajikistan was followed by a 0-3 loss for Iran, which does not come as a surprise, given that it is in 20th place, 113 places above India. While a scoreless draw against Afghanistan was frustrating, Jamil ended his first challenge at a peak when the Blue Tigers Oman (54 places above India) finished for the first time in history to achieve third place in the Cafa Nations Cup.

To place it in context, Jamil already has a competitive victory in his four games compared to the zero of Manolo in eight games.

India Under Jamil – What did we learn?

An important argument against Jamil’s football style was that India mainly followed a defensive approach in the Cafa Nations Cup, but that is not necessarily a negative thing. A coach must play the strengths of the team and recognize the strong areas of the opposition.

In all four games that India played in the Cafa Nations Cup, it had less possession than his opponent. In the victory against Tadjikistan, the Blue Tigers had 31 percent of the ball. In the loss against Iran it only had 26 percent. In the scoreless draw against Afghanistan, the men of Jamil had 43 percent of the ball, and in third place against Oman they had 38 percent. That is why an average possession of 38.5 percent is a clear indication that India has set a lot on its defense and excited the pressure of his opponents.

Even at club level it is known that Jamil’s teams are known to keep a solid form at the back. India gave five goals in four games in the Cafa Nations Cup, but three came across a considerably stronger Iran side. It is a fact that India could not have attacked teams such as Iran, Oman and Tajikistan against teams such as Iran, Oman, but the Blue Tigers, despite the fact that they were defensive, have yielded positive results against stronger opponents-like that it hadn’t done under Manolo and Igor-Stimulation.

Set pieces were the go-to approach of India in the Cafa Nations Cup. All three goals that India scored in the tournament came from long throw-ins, either directly or from the second playing phase. With players such as Anwar Ali and Danish Farooq, who are good at making the first contact of Lange Throw-ins, Jamil will want to benefit from this in the coming games. And it will be no surprise if players such as Rahul Bheke and Mohammad Uvais are made to spend more time on Throw-ins during training sessions.

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India’s lack of casual creation of Open Play was a concern, but again, it comes down to Jamil who uses the available players as well as possible. With players such as Thala, Liston, Sahal, Apuia and Manvir are missing, it is no surprise that the Blue Tigers have not made enough and scoring open play. It had a total of 19 shots on goal in four games, with eight on goal (42.10 percent). It should also be noted that the shots of India on goal spread over only two games (five against Tajikistan and three against Oman). It could not register shots on goal against Iran and Afghanistan.

It also brings the eternal issue of India’s lack of options in the rush department. Irfan Yadwad had more than enough chances to impress Jamil, but was not clinical enough. Although Chhetri, who has retired, is still an option, it is unlikely that Jamil wants to build the core around the 41-year-old, especially in view of his preference for the use of young talents.

Many questions still have to be answered, but it is safe to say that Jamil has placed a strong base for crucial Asian cups against Singapore, Bangladesh and Hong Kong.

Published on September 10, 2025