The Indian national football team scripted a routine victory yesterday as they overcame neighbours Nepal in a 2-0 win. Two second half goals from Sandesh Jhingan and Jeje Lalpekhlua meant that Nepal were neatly dispatched of, aided by their captain Biraj Mahajan’s second half sending off.
India upped a gear in the second half after a sketchy first half display where striker Robin Singh was isolated. The Blue Tigers only came into the game after Eugeneson Lyngdoh came on as a replacement for the injured Rowllin Borges and added more impetus to India’s passing game. A raft of second half substitutions meant that India never quite sustained their flow in attack, but it was a vital win ahead of another crucial clash next week.
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The Blue Tigers, in the process, broke quite a few records of their own. Here is a look at them:
#1 Seven wins on the spin for India
India came into the Nepal game on the back of two consecutive wins this calendar year, and they stretched their 2017 winning run to three matches with yesterday’s result. The Blue Tigers haven’t lost a single international game in more than a year now, and the victory against Nepal was their seventh on the trot. This is the first time India have won seven consecutive international matches. The last 12 months have brought about good news for the Indian national team, who have risen to the top 100 of the FIFA rankings, and yesterday’s win ensured that the Blue Tigers head into their crucial AFC Asian Cup qualifier against the Kyrgyz Republic on 13th June in red-hot form.
#2 Jeje’s international goalscoring record
Jeje’s clinching goal yesterday was his seventh in as many matches, marking him as one of the premier Indian strikers around. The Mohun Bagan frontman now has 18 goals in international football for India, in just 44 games. That makes the Mizo striker one of the most prolific international strikers around as his current goals-per-game ratio is better than the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Landon Donovan, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Emmanuel Adebayor.
#3 Another debut handed by Constantine
India head coach Stephen Constantine has somewhat built a reputation in his second spell in charge of the Blue Tigers by handing debuts to players left, right and centre. The Englishman has given over 30 players their first India chance, and yesterday was no different. Young left-back Jerry Lalrinzuala became the latest to benefit from Constantine’s benevolence as he made his first appearance for India, coming on to replace Narayan Das with the final quarter of the game remaining.
#4 4 clean sheets in 7 matches, best ever start to a year by India
India kept a clean sheet against Nepal which was their fourth shut-out in the last 12 months and second on the spin. The Blue Tigers had kept clean sheets in wins over Laos, Bhutan and Myanmar before yesterday’s win over Nepal since June 2016. The win also marked India’s best ever start to a calendar year. No Indian team in the past had won three straight games to start a year, something which Constantine’s charges have achieved this term with relative ease and style by keeping their opponents at arm’s length from their goal.
#5 Robin Singh’s faltering India career
If there was one game where Robin Singh’s inadequacy to lead the line for India was exposed, it was yesterday’s. The tall target man was chosen to start in captain Sunil Chhetri’s absence and had a game to forget before being taken off at half-time. His firing at blanks in the Nepal game meant his India record now stands at four goals from 24 matches, a tally which was matched by centre-back Jhingan when he scored the opening goal in the second half. It’s a damning indictment of striker Robin that a defender has an equal number of international goals.
