India 2-4 Palestine: Koevermans’ side beaten after poor second-half display

India 2 (Clifford 17, Nabi 39) – 4 Palestine (Nu’man 30, pen 51, 66, Abu Saleh 47)

India: 4-4-1-1: Sandip Nandy; Denzil Franco, Gouramangi Singh, Raju Gaikwad, Syed Rahim Nabi; Francis Fernandes (Joaquim Abranches 76), Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues (Arata Izumi 64), Clifford Miranda (CK Vineeth 85); Alwyn George (Jewel Raja 69); Sunil Chhetri (Manandeep Singh 76)

Palestine: 4-2-3-1: Mohammed Shbair; Raed Fares, Abdelatif Bahdari (Nadem Barghouthi 59), Khaled Mahdi, Mousa Abu Jazar (Ahmed Salameh 82); Khader Yousef, Ma’aly Kaware (Mahmoud Salah 46); Hussam Abu Saleh, Abdelhamid Abuhabib (Abdelrahim Ka’beia 78), Ashraf Nu’man; Eyad Abugharqud (Khaled Salem 88)

The Indian national football team encountered a poor start to 2013, as they went down 2-4 to Palestine in an international friendly at Kochi’s Nehru Stadium. The game started well for India, as Clifford Miranda put them in front and although Ashraf Nu’man equalised, Syed Rahim Nabi restored India’s lead before the break.

Palestine came out of the second half stronger and scored thrice in 21 minutes, with Nu’man completing his hattrick, and the impressive Hussam Abu Saleh netting the other, as the West Asian nation maintained their unbeaten record against South Asian opposition.

The biggest surprise in India’s starting lineup was the exclusion of goalkeeper Subrata Pal, as the veteran Sandip Nandy made his return to the national team, while former Tata Football Academy (TFA) graduate and current Pailan Arrows man Alwyn George also got a start behind lone striker Sunil Chhetri in a 4-4-1-1 system, with Arata Izumi on the bench.

Palestine’s Jordanian coach Jamal Mahmoud named exactly the same lineup as predicted by Sportskeeda in the preview, as Eyad Abugharqud started as the lone striker with the dangerous Nu’man on the left and young and exciting Abdelhamid Abuhabib in the number ‘10’role of a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Both sides started slowly and didn’t look like scoring until the 17th minute, when a poor clearance from Palestine fell to Indian debutant George, whose shot was well saved by goalkeeper Mohammed Shbair, but Clifford was first to the rebound and he slotted home for his ninth international goal.

India’s lead didn’t last long though, as Hussam Abu Saleh put in a great cross from the right flank at the half-hour mark and the dangerous Ashraf Nu’man volleyed it past Nandy. The veteran Indian goalkeeper possibly could have done better and the fullbacks on both sides – Nabi and Denzil Franco were guilty as the former failed stop Abu Saleh from making the cross while Denzil didn’t close down Nu’man.

Despite being level, Palestine looked sluggish and were perhaps still feeling the effects of their long journey to India. The hosts were not creating clear cut chances but were winning almost every second ball and getting plenty of freekicks and corners.

The deliveries from set-pieces weren’t that great until the 39th minute, when Mehtab put in a quality ball from a corner and predictably Nabi headed home. Palestine must have not done their homework as they allowed India’s best header of the ball to have a free header, and India’s Mr. Versatile made them pay by netting his sixth for the country.

Palestine came out revitalised in the second half and equalised just two minutes after the restart through Hussam Abu Saleh. The right winger was given time and space to have a shot after India failed to clear the danger and he found the back of the net.

Four minutes later, Palestine had a penalty when Nabi brought down Abu Saleh. Once again, the move came after India lost possession in midfield and their defence was caught out by some quick Palestine passing, with Nabi eventually giving away the spot-kick. Ashraf Nu’man coolly converted the penalty to give Palestine the lead for the first time in the game.

India tried to find a response, with Nabi producing a fine save off Shbair after a trademark run from left back. Palestine also lost their captain Abdelatif Bahdari through an injury and Wim Koevermans introduced Japanese-born Arata for his debut.

But it was Palestine who scored again, and once again it was Nu’man who completed his hattrick. The Jordan-based player dispossessed Nabi and then ran at the Indian defence, going past Gouramangi Singh and scoring past Nandy.

Koevermans made four more substitutions, with skipper and talisman Sunil Chhetri failing to complete 90 minutes again, while local boy CK Vineeth also came on for his debut. But India never threatened to come back and could have lost by a bigger margin had Palestine taken a couple of their chances.

The result is proof of the fact that the Indian team is still not used to playing international friendlies with just a couple of training sessions together, but they must improve before the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 qualifiers next month in Myanmar.