Manolo Marquez should look forward to his first win as India head coach as his workforce performed out a 1-1 attract an entertaining worldwide soccer pleasant match towards Vietnam right here on Saturday. Vietnam took the lead within the thirty eighth minute via Nguyen Hoang Duc earlier than Farukh Choudhary equalised within the 53rd minute on the Thien Truong Stadium, round 100 km from Hanoi. In Marquez’s two matches as head coach thus far, India drew towards Mauritius and misplaced 0-3 to Syria within the Intercontinental Cup in Hyderabad final month.
Ranked 116th, Vietnam are 10 spots increased than India (126th) within the FIFA rankings.
In an eventful first half, India goalkeeper and captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stopped a penalty kick awarded to Vietnam within the tenth minute after Rahul Bheke fouled a house facet attacker. Vietnam captain Que Ngoc Hai’s shot, nevertheless, went straight to Sandhu.
Two minutes earlier than that, Choudhary was let free in an Indian assault however his left-footer from simply outdoors the field was stopped by Vietnam goalie Nguyen Filip.
Vietnam have been on the ascendency because the match progressed and Nguyen Van Toan’s shot within the seventeenth minute went simply large off the mark.
In the twenty seventh minute, India additionally acquired an opportunity however once more Choudhary’s left-footed shot from a tough angle off a move from Brandon Fernandes couldn’t beat the Vietnam goalkeeper.
Chau Ngoc Quans nearly gave Vietnam the lead within the thirty second minute when he outsmarted an Indian defender along with his flip and his left-footed roller beat Sandhu however the ball went large of the submit by few inches.
Vietnam’s objective ultimately got here six minutes later. Bui Vi Hao’s volley from contained in the field deflected from an Indian defender and Gurpreet’s outstretched leg was in a position to contact the ball however not sufficient to ship it out of hurt’s means.
All Nguyen Hoang Duc needed to do was simply push the ball into the open internet from the goal-line.
India performed significantly better within the second half. They had intervals of dominance and likewise discovered the equaliser within the 53rd minute.
Defender Anwar Ali despatched a protracted aerial ball from close to the centre line and Choudhary received an aerial duel with Vietnam captain Que Ngoc Hai relatively simply and he chipped the ball over an onrushing goalie Nguyen Filip into the empty internet.
Ten minutes later, Lallianzuala Chhangte’s chip into the Vietnam field nearly discovered Choudhary’s ft however the residence facet goalkeeper was in a position to lay his hand on the ball.
India known as the photographs within the preliminary interval of the second half and the Blue Tigers rattled the house workforce’s defence very often. In the meantime, Choudhary was substituted by Edmund Lalrindika.
In the 71st minute, Chhangte’s shot took a deflection and went out for a nook.
But from there on, Vietnam got here again strongly and dictated phrases within the final quarter-hour. They created a sequence of scoring probabilities however couldn’t convert any of them.
In the 79th minute, Sandhu made an excellent reflex save to disclaim Van Vu’s snap shot from contained in the field.
Three minutes later, central defender Anwar Ali made a goal-line save as he headed out a goal-bound shot.
Originally, India have been to play in a tri-Nation match however Lebanon pulled out, citing difficulties in flying in another country because of the ongoing disaster at residence. The match was deliberate within the FIFA worldwide match window from October 7-15.
India have been earlier scheduled to play towards Vietnam on October 9 and towards Lebanon on October 12 earlier than Lebanon’s pulling out left them to play only one match.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is printed from a syndicated feed.)
