India 0-2 Iraq

India 0-2 Iraq (FT)

Both teams were without some of their key players in the face-off between the two teams in todays FIFA International friendly.

Iraq started the match on a positive note taking a crack at the Indian goal as early as 3rd minute but India’s Mr. Dependable Subrata Paul hung on to the ball easily. In the early minutes of the match Surkumar Singh and Sushil Kumar Singh, who was drafted into the starting XI due to Chhetri’s injury, made all the running. Iraq slowly showed their class with some beautiful display of ground passing which kept the Indians wanting for the ball. Iraqis mostly attacked through the left wing as Surkumar Singh was leaving his marker unmarked most of the time. Some flawless play by Iraq saw them earn a penalty on 16th minute when their striker cleverly went into the Indian box after trapping a long ball from midfield, Subrata Paul gave away a penalty while trying to take the ball away. The challenge was a 50-50 one but probably it deserved a penalty and the referee gave it rightly while he also booked Subrata for the illegal challenge. The penalty was easily converted by Khalid Bin Mohamed.

In between, India also created some half chances which they failed to capitalize due to their slow strikers. Though Sushil worked really hard and went for it most of the time, his partner Abhishek Yadav was looking lazy. On the other hand, Iraq were fast and their defenders were quick off the blocks. Thanks to some good defending from Gourmangi Sigh and Syed Rahim Nabi, Iraq were restricted to long rangers. India’s star winger Steven Dias returning from injury was unimpressive throughout the first half as he was found crossing the ball whenever he gets the ball. The first half whistle saw the score remain at 1-0 to Iraq while they enjoyed most of the possession.

Mr.Yadav is too slow and lazy

Second half saw a lot more urgency from the Indian players with Mohammed Rafi replacing the ever so lazy Abhishek Yadav. At the 50th minute, Indian team got a real scare due to some misunderstanding between the keeper and the defenders, luckily for India the ball went out for a goal-kick. India pressed more for an equalizer but more often then not their(India’s) striker’s were overpower or out-ran by the physically superior Iraqi defenders. Rafi got some very good opportunities as he was superbly fed quite a few time by the midfielders but he was caught napping in front of the goals by the ever so speedy Iraqi defenders. Just when Indian team was looking more organized, Iraq doubled the lead against the run of play on 66th minute on the clock, when Khaled Bin Mohamed scored his brace. Both Subrata Paul and Surkumar Singh could be blamed for the goal, as Subrata failed to properly grasp a left footed shot from an Iraqi player and Surkumar Singh didn’t clear the ball which led to the goal. India’s best chance came in at about 80th minute on the clock when a cross from right saw Sushil heading the ball to the ground in a goal-mouth position. Arjuna awardee Deepak Mondal was brought on in place of struggling Surkumar in the later stages of the match while Renedy was brought on in place of Steven Dias. The last few minutes saw Iraq building huge amount of pressure for the Indian defence, but luckily for India Subrata Paul was ready for the challenge. The scoreline remained 2-0 in favour of the mighty Iraq team mainly because of some superb saves from Subrata Paul.

The match was certainly not a one sided game as Iraq may have expected but India still needs to sought out some problems before they face Kuwait on 14th November.