Mamedaly Karadanov's first-half penalty was enough as Turkmenistan joined DPR Korea at the top of Group B with a 1-0 win over India on Friday which ended the defending champions’ hopes of retaining their title.
Karadanov, who scored Turkmenistan's only goal in the 1-1 draw with DPR Korea on Wednesday, converted from the spot midway through the first half at Sugathadasa Stadium to hand India a second consecutive defeat which was compounded by Roy Debabrata's late red card.
After DPR Korea earlier eased to a 4-0 win over Kyrgyzstan, DPR Korea and Turkmenistan sit a point clear of Kyrgyzstan at the top of the table ahead of the final round of group games.
On Sunday, DPR Korea face eliminated India at Sugathadasa Stadium, while at the same time across Colombo Turkmenistan take on Kyrgyzstan at CR & FC Grounds.
Following a fast paced open and free flowing start India's Jibon Khangembam fired a dipping effort from the edge of the area whistling over the Turkmenistan crossbar after 17 minutes with goalkeeper Bayramniyaz Berdiyev struggling to make up the ground.
But five minutes later Turkmenistan opened the scoring as Karadanov squeezed his penalty just past India goalkeeper Karanjit Singh after defender Debabrata had upended a flying Ruslan Mingazov with a clumsy challenge just inside the area.
India made a frantic finish to the first half as captain Sushil Chongtham tested Berdiyev with a low shot from the edge of the area in stoppage time before Ralte Lalrindika saw a similar effort on the stroke of half-time deflected wide.
Singh acrobatically denied Karadanov a second nine minutes after the break as the India goalkeeper clawed away the strikers' stooping near post header from Dovran Allanazarov's left wing cross.
At the other end Chongtham found space on the edge of the area after cutting in from the left but saw his effort deflected wide as Turkmenistan fought to maintain their advantage.
Lalrindika was halted by a tight offside flag seven minutes after the hour mark as India were becoming increasingly frustrated as the second half progressed with Turkmenistan content to run the clock down.
Singh again kept his side in the contest with 16 minutes remaining with a low diving save from Maksim Belyh's towering header, but India's cause was dealt a huge blow three minutes later as Debabrata was sent-off after picking up a second yellow card following a high foot.
India
Playing XI: 29-Karanjit Singh, 18-Denzil Franco, 4-Rowlison Rodrigues, 3-Nirmal Chhetri, 33-Debabarta Roy, 13-Jibon Singh, 23-Jewel Raja Shaikh, 6-Baljit Sahni, 19-Lalrindika, 12-Jeje Lalpekhlua, 10-Sushil Kumar Singh (Capt)
Substitutes: 9-Balwant Singh, 22-Th Naoba Singh, 17-Jagtar Singh, 21-Laxmikant Kattimani, 16-Gurvinder Singh, 12-Subhash Singh, 5-Ravinder Singh.
Not Playing:17-Robert Lalthlamuana, 11-Joaquim Abranches, 22-Gurpreet Singh, 14-D Ravanan.
Source: AFC
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Friday 19 February 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.