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Instead, they only fizzled at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium until Jackson Irvine pounced on an error from India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and scored in the 50th minute.
“I can honestly say that we’ve got to improve a lot more than that,” he said.
Just 12 players from the 26-player Socceroos squad that reached the round of 16 at last year’s World Cup are at the Asian tournament. Source: AAP / James Ross
“We’re here to win the Asian Cup and to reach the stars, you have to have high expectations and put those expectations on the boys and get them to believe in what we can do.
“I thought that there was probably a little bit too much excitement (from us) first half for the competition to start, but after we got to halftime and showed them some good clips about what they’re doing well, second half we did very well.
“Bahrain was a perfect preparation game for us because they sat back and made it difficult as well,” Arnold said.
Socceroos captain and goalkeeper Mat Ryan returned from a fractured cheekbone donning a Batman-like black protective face mask, but he was rarely challenged.
Graham Arnold was far from happy with his team’s performance against India. Source: AAP / Bianca De Marchi
Arnold selected Aziz Behich over Bos at left-back, while newcomer Gethin Jones started at right-back.
Australia started the second half with more intent and broke through when Singh Sandhu parried a Boyle cross straight to Irvine, who chested the ball down and made no mistake with a pressure-relieving left-footed finish.
Australia’s Jackson Irvine celebrates after scoring the opening goal. Source: AP / Aijaz Rahi
The Socceroos played far better after the goal and kicked up another gear when Arnold turned to Riley McGree and Sam Silvera in the 64th minute, then Bos and Bruno Fornaroli in the 72nd.
Group B rivals Uzbekistan and Syria fought out a 0-0 draw on Sunday morning (AEDT), with Australia next in action against Syria on Thursday night.
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