The Hindu : Sport / Football : India holds Tajikistan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 02, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Football

India holds Tajikistan

Abhijit Sen Gupta

— Photo: Reuters

THE SAVIOUR: India’s Baichung Bhutia celebrates after bringing about the equaliser against Tajikistan.

HYDERABAD: India, which made six changes to its squad, held Tajikistan to a 1-1 draw in the AFC Challenge Cup football tournament here on Friday.

After Yusuf Rabiev put Tajikistan ahead in the 11th minute, the Indian skipper Baichung Bhutia, who came in as a substitute in the second half, equalised. His diving header in the 61st minute went into the net off the goalkeeper. Officially, the goal was declared an own goal.

Missed chance

Both teams attacked from the beginning. Tajikistan had a great chance to open the scoring in the seventh minute when a long lob from midfield fell into the box, India goalie Subrata Pal and Tajikistan forward Fatkhulo both went for it. Pal reached the ball first but it slipped out of his grasp and the Tajik forward seized the opportunity and was about to tap it into the net, but a defender managed to kick the ball away to safety.

This did not deter Tajikistan from continuing to raid the Indian defence. In the 11th minute, Ergashev ran up the right flank and gave a pass to Tukhtasunov who sent in a perfect cross to Rabiev. The latter had no difficulty in slamming the ball in from close range to make it 1-0.

The Tajikstan outfit depended upon long passes and fast running. Late in the first half, Rabiev dribbled past two defenders in a diagonal run from the left but his shot hit the near post.

In the second session, India brought in Bhutia and almost immediately the move paid dividends. Bhutia dived forward and headed a low cross from Steven Dias which went in via the goalkeeper’s hands.

India created several great openings. The home team almost went ahead late in the match when a free kick by Dias from about ten yards outside the box rammed into the crosspiece before flying out.

Principal Correspondent adds

Coach defends decision

Bob Houghton, India’s chief coach, defended his decision not to start with some of the seniors including captain Baichung Bhutia after the host held defending champion Tajikistan to a 1-1 draw in the AFC Challenge Cup football championship at the GMC Balayogi Stadium here on Friday.

“Well, if India were leading 2-0 at half-time, I would not have brought on Baichung (who was brought on 15 minutes into the second-half),” Houghton said even while stressing that he wanted the key players to get adequate rest before the crucial match against Turkmenistan. “I don’t want to field the best team right through and run out of steam in the final phase,” he said.

In the second match of the day, a hat-trick by Ovekov who scored four goals helped Turkmenistan to defeat Afghanistan 5-0. The other goal was scored by Krendelev.

Tough conditions

“The ground conditions were very difficult as it was almost impossible to string together passes because of the hardness of the ground,” he said.

He did not believe that India was lucky to get away with a draw and reminded that the host was actually chasing victory in the second-half while the opponent gave the impression of settling for one point and thinking in terms of goal average. “I am pleased with the bench strength. There are a couple of players like Chetri and Clifford who can play the whole day,” Houghton said.

For his part, Tajikistan assistant coach Mubin Ergashev felt that it was his team’s fault which let India get away with a draw.

Saturday’s matches: Sri Lanka vs Myanmar (4 p.m), DPR Korea vs Nepal (6.30 p.m.).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport