Indian team kept their 6-1 defeat against Jordan in their opening match, behind as they went all guns blazing to beat Turkmenistan 2-1 in their AFC under-16 championship qualifier (Group D) at Al Qatara stadium, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates on Monday to pocket three points.
India had the same playing XI and dominated the entire 90 minutes of the game. They played with a combination of long and short passed keeping the rivals defence at bay. India could have won with a bigger margin but luck didn’t the strikers as their shots either rebounded off the bar or were punched to safety by the Turkmenistan custodian Ovezov.
India was awarded for their attacking game as they drew the first blood in the fourth minute. Brendon free kick had Shankar heading the ball perfectly past Ovezov to give India a 1-0 lead.
Three minutes later Brendon was once again in action as his powerful 40 yarder shot had Ovezov diving and managing to keep the ball off the net. India never allowed Turkmenistan to take control of the game and the game was played mostly in the Turkmenistan half.
The victors didn’t have to wait much as in the 17th minute skipper Anuj Negi headed the ball in to the far post through a corner taken by Brendon. Everything worked for India as they played as unit and the players knew what their responsibilities were.
Near the half way mark India could have extended the lead but were unlucky as Anuj’s header rebounded off the bar.
The defenders played their role well as they kept their man marked and never allowed Turkmenistan striker to have a clear shot at the goal. Turkmenistan were awarded a penalty in the 38th minute of the game as Vijay Karthick tackled a striker inside the box. Sultanov used the opportunity well to reduce the lead to 2-1.
India kept on attacking at the Turkmenistan den and were awarded with eleven corner kicks. Though, they didn’t manage to extend the lead but pocketed there points from the match to face Kyrgyzstan on Thursday.
Source: AIFF
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 5 October 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.