#4 A brilliant performance from the “reserves”
While the Indian team did eke out a 1-0 win over Laos in the first leg, they hardly impressed anyone with their play. However, many pointed to the Indian team’s long list of absentees due to injuries. The Blue Tigers came into the tie missing many of its regulars, with as many as 11 players who were capable of challenging for first team honours, out due to various injuries.
With the likes of Robin Singh, Dhanpal Ganesh, Rowlin Borges, Bikash Jairu, Calvin Lobo and Pronay Halder missing in action, many would have pardoned the Indians if any mishap were to occur. And with Laos running the rule over the game for the first half an hour, many thought this would do down as another day of misery in the annals of Indian football.
The “reserves” however, had other ideas. Both debutants Fulganco Cardozo and Sumit Passi impressed in their debuts, scoring a goal each. In fact, everyone from Sunil Chhetri up top to Keegan Pereira at left back dug in and pulled off a magnificent result. This should be good news for all football fans in India as it showed that India possess good depth in their ranks even though the level of opposition wasn't the greatest.
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