India Under 23 defeated Afghanistan 1-0 in the SAFF Cup 2009 Championship match played at Bangbandhu National Stadium ,Dhaka on Saturday.
Both the sides were tied goalless at the lemon break. The winning goal for India U 23 came in the 85th minute through substitute Jeje Lalpekhlua (Captain of India U 19 side to Iraq for the recent AFC U 19 meet) who created an opportunity inside the box from the right and his right footer beat Afgan custodian.
Earlier both sides had their chances in the first half. Indian custodian Arindam Bhattacharya made some brilliant saves in both the halves. Indian Captain Sushil had his chances in the fifth minute and then in 77th minute he was left unmarked but his header went wide off the goal post. Arindam Bhattacharya palmed off a brilliant effort from Hasmatulla in the 59th min.
Substitue Manish Maithani also missed a scoring opportunity in the 83rd minute when he failed to connect a cross from the right flank. But it was subsitute Jeje who had come in place of Balwant Singh in the 73rd minute found the ball inside the box, created a chance for himself and unleashed a right footer which beat Goalkeeper and found the back of the net in the 85th minute to give India Under 23 much needed win and full three points from their first SAFF Cup 2009 encounter.
India plays Nepal next on Monday,7th Dec.
Source: AIFF
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Saturday 5 December 2009, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.