 "India scored their first goal since Manolo Marquez's appointment as head coach in the international friendly against Vietnam. Image credit: All India Football Federation")
Farukh Choudhary scored the first goal of the Manolo Marquez era as India held Vietnam to an entertaining 1-1 draw in the international friendly fixture that took place in Nam Dinh on Saturday. The Blue Tigers are yet to win a match this year but managed to draw quite a few positives from what is their only fixture of the October break.
Vietnam took the lead in the 38th minute through Nguyen Hoang Duc before Choudhary equalised in the 53rd minute at the Thien Truong Stadium, around 100 km from Hanoi.
In Marquez’s two matches as head coach before Saturday’s fixture, India drew against Mauritius and lost 0-3 to Syria in the Intercontinental Cup in Hyderabad last month.
Ranked 116th, Vietnam are 10 spots higher than India (126th) in the FIFA rankings.
In an eventful first half, India goalkeeper and captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stopped a penalty kick awarded to Vietnam in the 10th minute after Rahul Bheke fouled a home side attacker. Vietnam captain Que Ngoc Hai’s shot, however, went straight to Sandhu.
Two minutes before that, Choudhary was let free in an Indian attack but his left-footer from just outside the box was stopped by Vietnam goalie Nguyen Filip.
Vietnam were on the ascendency as the match progressed and Nguyen Van Toan’s shot in the 17th minute went just wide off the mark.
In the 27th minute, India also got a chance but again Choudhary’s left-footed shot from a difficult angle off a pass from Brandon Fernandes could not beat the Vietnam goalkeeper.
Chau Ngoc Quans almost gave Vietnam the lead in the 32nd minute when he outsmarted an Indian defender with his turn and his left-footed curler beat Sandhu but the ball went wide of the post by few inches.
Vietnam’s goal eventually came six minutes later. Bui Vi Hao’s volley from inside the box deflected from an Indian defender and Gurpreet’s outstretched leg was able to touch the ball but not enough to send it out of harm’s way.
All Nguyen Hoang Duc had to do was just push the ball into the open net from the goal-line.
India played much better in the second half. They had periods of dominance and also found the equaliser in the 53rd minute.
Defender Anwar Ali sent a long aerial ball from near the centre line and Choudhary won an aerial duel with Vietnam captain Que Ngoc Hai rather easily and he chipped the ball over an onrushing goalie Nguyen Filip into the empty net.
Ten minutes later, Lallianzuala Chhangte’s chip into the Vietnam box almost found Choudhary’s feet but the home side goalkeeper was able to lay his hand on the ball.
India called the shots in the initial period of the second half and the Blue Tigers rattled the home team’s defence quite 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 corner.
But from there on, Vietnam came back strongly and dictated terms in the last 15 minutes. They created a series of scoring chances but could not convert any of them.
In the 79th minute, Sandhu made a brilliant reflex save to deny Van Vu’s snap shot from inside the box.
Three minutes later, central defender Anwar Ali made a goal-line save as he headed out a goal-bound shot.
Originally, India were to play in a tri-Nation tournament but Lebanon pulled out, citing difficulties in flying out of the country due to the ongoing crisis at home. The tournament was planned in the FIFA international match window from October 7-15.
India were earlier scheduled to play against Vietnam on October 9 and against Lebanon on October 12 before Lebanon’s pulling out left them to play just one match.
With PTI inputs