The Indian national team has won its second match at the 2012 Nehru Cup. Wim Koevermans’ team defeated South Asian rivals Maldives 3-0 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
India started with the same line-up they fielded against Syria in the opening match and both teams had a lively start into the game. The teams played an pacy and attacking end to end game, but failed to create any clear chances in the opening moments of the game.
Trending
It seemed like Maldives would turn the match in their favour after 30 minutes, when the South Asian neighbours pushed hard to score the first goal of the match.
India keeper Subrata Pal kept his team in the match with a few good saves and the Indian team tried hard to challenge the Maldives goal. Sanju Pradhan, Syed Rahim Nabi and Francis Fernandes had their attempts on the target, but they couldn’t beat keeper Mohamed Imran.
India finally broke the deadlook in the dying moments of the first half, when a Maldivian defender handled a Syed Rahim Nabi cross in the box. The experienced referee pointed to the spot to award India penalty.
Star skipper Sunil Chhetri made no mistakes and coverted the spot kick to give India a 1-0 lead at half-time.
Wim Koevermans changed his system in the second half and brought on Robin Singh for Sandhu Pradhan. India were up to the mark in the second half and created a few problems to the Maldives defenders.
India’s dominance paid off when Syed Rahim Nabi increased the lead in the 53rd minute. The experienced allrounder headed home a corner kick to the delight of the Indian fans.
The Indian team continued to push forward and they were rewarded once again in the 70th minute. Francis Fernandes delivered a perfect cross from the right flank just to see Sunil Chhetri finishing off with a superb diving header past keeper Imran.
Maldives had no reply to the Indian dominance in the second half, while India displayed a much improved performance in comparison to the 2-1 win against Syria in the opening match.
Dutchman Koevermans will be looking forward optimistically to the next match against Nepal in a few days time.
More details and exclusive updates on the the NEHRU CUP will be available at www.facebook.com/cpd81.
2012 Nehru Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi
INDIA 3-0 MALDIVES
GOALS
1-0 Sunil Chhetri (45′+2′, pen)2-0 Syed Rahim Nabi (53′)3-0 Sunil Chhetri (70′)
LINE-UPS
India1-Subrata Pal; 4-Nirmal Chetri (90′ 2-Denzil Franco), 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 3-Raju Eknath Gaikwad, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi; 8-Sanju Pradhan (46′ 24-Robin Singh), 6-Lenny Rodrigues, 20-Mehtab Hossain, 15-Clifford Miranda (77′ 14-Anthony Pereira); 26-Francis Fernandes; 11-Sunil Chhetri [C]
Unused SubsSubhasish Roy Chowdhury, Karanjit Singh; Gurwinder Singh, Alwyn George, Jewel Raja Sheikh, Manandeep Singh
Maldives25-Mohamed Imran; Ahmed Abudlla, Mohamed Shifan, 4-Mohamed Umair, Mohamed Arif, 7-Ali Ashfaq [C], 8-Rilwan Waheed (12-Ahmed Rasheed), 10-Assadh Ali (83′ 15-Ismail Easa), Asadulla Abdulla, Shafiu Ahmed, Mohamed Rasheed
BOOKINGS
Yellow Cards12′ Asadulla Abdulla (Maldives)60′ Assadh Ali (Maldives)90′+3′ Denzil Franco (India)
