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That’s it for today. At Final Whistle its Laos 0-1 India. A good away result for a depleted Indian Squad. India will be definitely stronger at the Guwahati Stadium for the return leg, on 7th.
90’+3: CHANCE! That could have been the qualiser for Laos, with the iNdians dropping off before the final whistle, Loas take advantage, Khampheng jumps for the cross from the right, the ball goes wide.
90+1’: Manolam takes a shot from 40 yards out. Goes behind for a goal kick.
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90’: A really clumsy tackle by Saityasen, booked.
87’: Rafique off. Allwyn George in for India. Substitution.
84': Brilliant tackle in the middle of the park by Rafique. But, he seems to have pulled something in the process.
81’: Udanta Singh shoved to the ground by the Laos skipper who’s shown a yellow card.
76’: India hasn't shown any attacking instinct in last few minutes, though they are keeping the ball decently.
74’: Narayan dilly-dallying in defense, cleared eventually.
70’: Substitution for India. Jeje off, Passi in
68’: Udanta comes inside and crosses for Jeje, easily collected by the Laos Goalkeeper.
67’: Sandesh has been immense at the back for India. In the way of everything thrown at him by the Laos forwards.
57’: The Indians haven’t kept the ball well since the goal.
56’: GOAL!! Jeje for India, assist by Udanta.
52’: The Indians are playing some decent stuff here. Piling on the pressure on the Laos defense.
45’: Laos kick off the second half.
The Indians have played some decent stuff. The Laos team has looked to hit India on the counter, Sandesh has made some important contributions. Chhetri and Narayan Das have looked bright.
45+1’: WHAT a VOLLEY by Lyngdoh. Goes narrowly wide. Brilliant technique, waited for the ball to come across his body and then strikes it.
44’: The Indians have been piling on the pressure of late. The Loas defense has stood firm though, and are breaking quickly.
42’: CHANCE for Lyngdoh, lovely build-up play which included a delightfully dinked pass by Sunil Chhetri, the ball came to Lyngdoh at the end and he blasted it into the stands.
37’: Sandesh attempts another ball over the top. The Indians need to stop trying to lump the ball forward.
32’: Sandesh switches the ball to the right, Udanta rises for the ball. Free kick to Laos.
30’: Frrekick for Laos in a dangerous position. Ball floated in, defended very well by Sandesh, Gurpreet was in no man’s land there.
29': Nothing comes of the corner for India.
28’: Freekick floated in by Sunil Chhetri cleared away, Reno Anto with the rebound shot, deflected behind for a corner.
27’: Holicharan takes on two players on the left, fouled! Freekick for India.
25’: Rino Anto slips hilariously trying to clear the ball. Throw in for Laos.
21’: That was a bad tackle by the Laos left back, Sunil Chhetri looks hurt. No cards yet tough.
19’: The Indians have been against the tide for a while now, Laos have grown into the game.18’: Lovely play by the Laos forwards, Paseuthsack shoots, goes narrowly wide.
16’: Another brilliant flick by Sunil, offside again. One of these times it won’t be, Laos defenders have to be careful about their high line.
13’: Wonderful defending from Sandesh at the heart of the Indian defense. He rises high to clear a dangerous looking ball from the Indian box.
8’: Lovely play from Chhetri, he plays the ball through to Jeje. Jeje is offside, he couldn’t bend his run. Close.
4’: Some nice stuff by the Indians till now, in between everything there was a gorgeous flick by Sunil Chhetri.
3’: Narayan down the right tries to pick out Jeje in the middle, intercepted by the Loas defense.
1’: Jeje and Chhetri kick off for India.
0’: Done with all the formalities, set for kickoff.
The Playing XI for India – (4-3-3)
Gurpreet Singh (GK), Narayan Das, Arnab Mondal, Sandesh Jhingan, Rino Anto, Eugenson Lyngdoh, Md. Rafique, Holicharan Narzary, Udanta Singh, Sunil Chhetri (C), Jeje Lalpekhlua.
The game is live from Vientiane at 17:00 IST.
The Indians head into the must-win game against Laos with a relatively under-strength squad. The twenty man squad for India who have left for Laos were excluding midfielders Rowlin Borges, Pronay Halder, Cabin Lobo, Bikash Jairu and defender Augustine Fernandes. Dhanpal Ganesh and Striker Robin Singh are long-term absentees.
With so many probable starters for India sidelined, it definitely is advantage Laos. The two-legged matchup between the two teams will decide whether India gets automatic qualification to the third round of qualifiers for AFC Asian Cup 2019.
Stephen Constantine, the- Indian football team coach knows the importance of the game against Laos, who sit 14 places below India in the World Rankings, and he reiterated “A number of our key Players are unfortunately injured. In fact, in our last practice session, we lost another promising youngster who might have started,” he said in the Official pre-match Press Conference. “But there’s no point looking back and crying. We are ready with what we have.”
The Laos head coach Valakone Phomphukdy, seems to confident of the team's chances against India. “Our Friendly against Nepal was good. It helped us to test our strategy as to what we need to do against India. We have had some two weeks’ preparation for this match. Playing at Home serves as an advantage. Some of our Players have had the experience of playing against Bengaluru FC,” he stated.
For India they attack looks very strong, with Sunil Chhetri, Udanta Singh and AIFF Player of the Year Jeje. They will be licking their lips looking at the Laos defense which has a pretty terrible record of conceding 29 goals in the world cup qualifying campaign.
