Having been frustrated by India’s resilient defending and their own inability to put away chances, second half goals from Jackson Irvine and Jordan Bos finally secured Australia the points and the early lead in Group B, with Uzbekistan and Syria settling for a goalless draw in the other tie.

“I have to give credit to India for their determination and fight. They put their bodies on the line. A lot of times we had opportunities in the penalty box to score, they blocked them,” said head coach Arnold.

“On our side, there was probably a little bit too much excitement and impatience for the competition to start. At half-time, we showed them some clips on how to do better and we got there.”

IMAGES – GROUP B: AUSTRALIA V INDIA
The Socceroos boss said there was no denying there is room for improvement.

“I can honestly say that we’ve got to improve a lot more than just set-pieces. It was a disappointment with our set-pieces because we worked a lot on that and that’s where we are strong.

“But again, we have to give credit to India, the way they set up for free-kicks and corners. We didn’t have much variety and that’s something that we have to work on, and we will.”

Igor Stimac said India were to blame for the conceded goals.

“We expected a very difficult match with the physicality of Australia and suffering from all the corners. Both goals, however, came from our sloppiness, not from Australia’s brilliance and action,” said the head coach.

“I’m happy as a coach because we held Australia in the first half and even had the best chance in the half. But the second half was not good. We couldn’t get out of that zone, were not capable of making that second pass and going over the half line because we worked a lot on that.

“Overall I’m happy, which is difficult to say because we lost the game but it was against Australia and looking ahead to the next two games, now our competition starts.”

India meet Uzbekistan on Thursday with Australia to play Syria.