Baichung Bhutia did not score on his international debut but he did manage one on his 100th appearance for the country as India defeated Kyrgyzstan 2-1 to keep their hopes alive in the ONGC Nehru Cup.
Playing in front of a near capacity Sunday crowd, Bhutia scored in the 43rd minute to give India the lead at the Dr. Ambedkar Stadium.
Collecting a long clearance from goalkeeper Subrata Pal inside the Kyrgyzstan box, Bhutia turned his marker inside out and left fly a left-footer that hit the right post, struck the left and went in. A chest thumping celebration followed and the stands roared back to life.
That one goal seemed to have recharged batteries and with shouts of “Bharat Mata Ki Jay” filling the stands, Bhutia and Company went for the jugular after the breather.
'Man of the Match' Bhutia played a crucial role in the second goal when goalkeeper Pavel Matiash brought him down inside the box and Sunil Chetri converted from the spot in the 58th minute.
While it was arguably Bhutia’s day, goalkeeper Subrata Pal stole some of the thunder with a tremendous block from the spot to deny Almazbek Mirzaliev after he was brought down by Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh.
But a good win was marred by defensive concerns as time and again Kyrgyzstan gave India the slip. The visitors were done in by poor conversion but nevertheless exposed India at the back.
The defenders were repeatedly beaten on pace and on quite a few occasions Subrata had to come to the rescue. With Anwar struggling – he battled through pain in his right thigh – Gouramangi was left to do the covering act most of the times.
The fullbacks – Deepak Kumar Mondal on the right and Mahesh Gawli on the left – did an excellent job while moving up but were caught unaware on the breaks.
One also noticed miscommunication between the back four which could have proved serious had the Kyrgyzstan strikers been on target.
Their persistent pressure finally paid off when substitute Mirlan Murzaev scored a consolation goal in the dying minutes of the match.
Needing a win to keep their final hopes alive, India launched their attacks down the right channel where Deepak gave Steven Dias excellent support.
India ought to have gone ahead in the fifth minute but NP Pradeep headed Steven’s cross wide. A minute later Chetri headed over Deepak’s centre.
Steven’s crosses were putting Kyrgyzstan into all sorts of pressure and they survived with some desperate defending.
However, a defensive slip almost allowed the visitors a goal in the 10th minute.
Gouramangi failed to intercept Vadim Harchenko’s run and it was left to Subrata to block his effort. The rebound came to Anton Zemlianuhin but he sent his left footer wide.
That was the first warning bell for India. Kyrgyzstan broke the defence time and again with Mirzaliev and Anton Zemlianuhin often moving into dangerous positions.
With Sri Lanka upsetting Lebanon in their first match with some excellent passing game, India need to tighten the defence in their next match against their Southern neighbour.
India
1-Subrata Pal; 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 5-Anwar, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 14-Mahesh Gawli; 23-Steven Benedic Dias, 30-Climax Lawrence, 7-Naduparambil Pappachan Pradeep (88' 27-Mehrajuddin Wadoo), 28-Anthony Pereira (8-Potsangbam Renedy Singh); 15-Baichung Bhutia [C] (82' 18-Sushil Kumar Singh), 11-Sunil Chetri
Unused Substitutes:
24-Subhashish Roy Chowdhury, 12-Deepak Kumar Mondal, 17-Irungbam Surkumar Singh, 21-Abhishek Yadav, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi
Kyrgyzstan
1-Pavel Matiash; 6-Faruh Abitov, 28-Rustem Usanov, 2-Sergey Chikishev, 13-Davron Askarov; 14-Vadim Harchenko, 17-Ildar Amirov, 9-Sergey Kaleutin (46' 10-Mirlan Murzaev), 15-Aibek Bokoev [C], 8-Almazbek Mirzaliev (79' 22-Pavel Sidorenko); 7-Anton Zemlianuhin
Unused Substitutes:
16-Maksim Agapov, 3-Vladimir Kasian, 5-Rustamjan Zakirov, 19-Roman Ablakimov, 20-Islam Shamshiev, 25-Artem Muladjanov
Source: Indianfootball.comign
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Sunday 23 August 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.