The Hindu : Sport / Football : Off-colour strikers, injury plague India

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Off-colour strikers, injury plague India

Colombo: Goal-shy forwards and injury to key players fill India’s cup of woes and Baichung Bhutia and his teammates will have to produce a vastly improved show if they are to defend the SAFF Championship title when they cross sword with Maldives at the Sugathadasa Stadium here on Saturday.

Though India edged out Maldives in its last league match by a solitary goal, past record would count for nothing when the sides lock horns and with Steven Dias, Rennedy Singh and N. S. Manju set to miss the final with injuries, coach Bob Houghton would find himself in an unenviable position.

To make it worse, the forward line, including Bhutia himself, sports a jaded look and the captain said it would be a 50-50 affair tomorrow.

“We all are very confident against Maldives. They are a very good side. It will be a good contest. It’s difficult to say who will be the winners but we have 50-50 chances,” Bhutia said.

The captain did not try to gloss over the fact that he and his forward-line colleagues cut a sorry figure against Bhutan and it needed a last-gasp goal from Gourmangi Singh, at the fag end of the extra time to edge out Bhutan and clear India’s passage to the final. — PTI

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