MARGAO
On the eve of their match Team India gaffer Stephen Constantine predicted a close contest in their concluding Group A fixture of the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 Qualifiers against Myanmar at Nehru Stadium, Fatorda on Tuesday. He was not to be proven wrong as the opposition was all over the Blue Tigers den, but India clawed their way back into the game with grit and resolve.
Unlike in their away engagement against the same side in March where they mainly adopted a defensive system, the Blue Tigers were left with no other option but to hit hard at the opposition through the ninety minutes.
This was mainly attributed to the fact that even before the chants of the Indian football die-hard fans - Blue Pilgrims could be heard, the home team was down by a goal. India had their nylons hit in sub 20 seconds from the first roll of the ball, when The White Angels' Thein Than Win, from the deep end of the left flank, sent a neat cross to fellow forward Yan Naing Oo who headed into an empty goal.
Struck with a very early setback, the Tigers whimpered in their own half for a better of the first quarter. They could have easily been down by two goals, in the very next minute when a defensive lapse by an otherwise sturdy Sandesh Jhingan found Myanmar's No. 10, Kyaw Ko Ko meet the ball, but his ensuing strike went straight into the gloves of Indian custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
India had a lucky break when their talismanic striker, Sunil Chhetri was fouled inside the rival box by David Htan. Stepping up, his rasping strike from the spot gave the home fans a cheer in the 13th minute.
The joy was short-lived for the home fans as the technically proficient opposition forged ahead once again on the 19th minute. What ought to have been a seemingly harmless shot on goal from a fair distance out by Ko Ko arising from a Than Win pass found the Indian custodian err in judgment under the horizontal.
The much-celebrated India captain, Sunil Chhetri was in the thick of action either side of the half-hour mark with the visitors surviving a few anxious moments. On the 30th minute, Chettri was a tad late with his layoff to Germanpreet, playing in an unusual forward role. On the very next minute, a Eugeneson Lyngdoh corner was met by a powerful Jhingan header on goal but the rival keeper Kyaw Zin Htet brought up a top draw
diving save.
Post resumption, India continued to press hard with a flurry of good moves to get back into the game. Chettri having a rather quiet game first missed out a header from an Udanta Singh cross. Then at the turn of the hour mark, both Jeje and Lyngdoh missed out in front of goal as the ball whizzed past them from a Narzary cross.
But it was Jeje, declared the most valuable player after the game, that finally got India level again at 2-2. On the 69th minute, he took a lobbed delivery from Lyngdoh laying the ball on him from midfield to slot it into the far post leaving the Myanmar keeper with no chance
The final score-line was perhaps not an apt reflection of an encounter which saw the home team come strong as the game progressed and particularly in the last quarter of the game.
